Yales, Yachts and Other Distractions
by Hardys and Horcruxes
Summary: A change of heart occurred within the young hoodlum as he fled to sunny California. A slightly AU version of events that transpire in the series, but with Jess Mariano along for the ride. Lit and so on.
1. Bittersweet

**_Slightly terrified, this is the first thing I've ever tried in the realm of Gilmore Girls. I was convinced that my pop culture references wouldn't be good enough or that I haven't read enough American novels to even slightly resemble the conversations between Rory and Jess. Then I thought 'screw it'. And here we are. Everything is slightly AU from the end of Season 3, but a lot of things that happen (and a lot of things us Lit fans wish didn't happen) will still be present in this story. The longer it goes, the more un-canon it will become. But, with my rant over, on with the show!_**

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing but a box set of _Gilmore Girls_ and a copy of _Howl._ I'm also Australian so if anything seems off about my Americanising, let me know._**

**Chapter One: Bittersweet_  
><em>**

"Call me, okay?"

Sighing slightly under his breath, Jess watched as the gargoyle-clad school moved far into the distance. Grabbing a book from the top of his heap of belongings, he began to stare at the page with no intention of reading. Never had Hemingway seemed so unappealing to him. He could feel people eyeing him oddly, as though trying to figure out why the pretty young private school girl had even been talking to a strange delinquent such as himself, who was probably no better than a street urchin according to the large bag sitting next to him. The words 'street urchin' made him almost chuckle, as he remembered reading the full version of _The Arabian Nights_ as a ten year old and his amusement of the unmitigated sex and violence that was so vastly different from anything the Disney corporation had tried to deliver.

Disney got it right where it hurt, though. Aladdin was so clearly the worst influence Jasmine had ever faced, the troublemaker and the princess. Nothing short of crazy Robin Williams magic got those two to see themselves together in any feasible way. They didn't even have the problems of graduating, ex-boyfriends or an entire town against them. Better to chase after a sultan's daughter than try anything with an ivy-league bound school valedictorian who until recently had been the best thing to happen to you in your entire life.

_Aw crap, now I'm feeling sorry for myself. _Jess thought, turning his page as an old woman who reeked of weed was staring at him._ I don't know why, it's not like I don't deserve it. I messed her around, was a complete jerk to her mom, even the guy that let me stay, rent-free, while I got my sorry ass kicked out of school. And now, there's no better way of saying it, I'm running away… running from my problems like a child who got in trouble. I packed my toys and animal crackers and fled from mommy and daddy. She deserves so much more than me, but I don't care. She picked me! Dammit, why'd I have to see her on here? California seems so stupid now…_

"What the fuck am I doing?" He muttered aloud, eliciting a small groan of frustration. He glanced out the window to find that he was, at most, an hour or so from Stars Hollow. There was a bus station coming up that went straight back to the old town. He'd need to deal with an entire bus full of tourists with their obnoxious voices and jam-hand kids, but suddenly her face, Rory's face, was the only thing he wanted to see. He couldn't see himself in California anyway… too many yuppies.

Rory Gilmore knew when things were going wrong. She knew about her mom flushing her goldfish Hector down the toilet when she was five, and she knew that Jess Mariano was doing something stupid. She saw that big bag that looked like it held all of his belongings, she wasn't blind or stupid, so for him to be treating her like she was more than a little insulting. Where was he going anyway? Back to New York? Back to his mother who shipped him off in the first place, probably so she could shack up with a guy who hated kids? Somehow she couldn't see that happening.

"I need to go and see Luke," She decided out loud, before remembering her and Paris were supposed to be in the middle of a discussion on where to buy the school's new telescope.

"What the hell has Diner Man got to do with this, Gilmore… unless you're having problems with James Dean?" Rory disliked the girl sometimes, but Paris was more than perceptive.

"Something like that. He was on the bus this morning… something didn't seem right with him, with the whole thing really. I felt like Scarlett O'Hara!"

"Oh, that's depressing. Since you're not being any help to me here, how about I drive you back to your farm and you can talk to the town crier or something about your problems."

"Wow, really? Thanks Paris!"

"No problem, just don't hug me, okay?"

Rory thanked her unlikely saviour and exited the car, barely having time to close the door before Paris sped off back to her idea of civilisation. Luke's stood before her, so she took a deep breath and walked in. The place was packed, which was unsurprising at lunchtime and as Rory knew she wasn't getting to the flannel-clad man any time soon, she decided to get a seat at the counter and wait. Almost immediately she was greeted by a door slam and a slightly angry voice.

"Luke, can we talk?" the disgruntled-looking Jess Mariano managed to say as calmly as possible.

Rory's eyes widened in shock as his did the same at seeing her here, in her Chilton uniform, definitely not at school. He regained his composure much more quickly than her, however, and he left his pile of belongings near the door and gestured for her to follow him upstairs. Still not quite sure what was happening, she complied with a reasonable amount of trepidation. They walked the stairs silently and came to the table, taking opposite seats of the table. Jess stood up quickly, pulling a lighter and cigarette from his pocket and inhaling deeply.

"Didn't you quit?" Rory asked quietly, as though terrified at getting the ball rolling with this particular conversation. Jess bit back a sarcastic comment and replied honestly.

"Yeah, I did. This is me tapping into my emergency pack," He tried to give her that trademark smirk of his, trying to ease the tension in the room, but it failed. There were just too many unspoken questions looming. With that in mind Rory decided to bite the bullet.

"I'm going to start asking questions now, okay?"

"I figured as much."

"Good. We'll start off simply: what the hell is going on? I see you on the bus when I'm going to school, and you look like you've robbed a pawn shop with all that stuff in the huge bag that you didn't think I noticed! But I noticed, Jess! You were running away, weren't you? Why were you running away? Did I do something wrong, did-"

"Rory, how the hell could you even try to make this your fault? You weren't the one who was skipping class, who couldn't take his girlfriend to prom because you flunked out!" He was almost shouting now, his anger at himself nearing boiling point. Rory, on the other hand, was shocked.

"You're not graduating?"

"No."

"But… you're the smartest person I know," she said confusedly, trying to piece together what happened.

"Being smart means nothing if you don't show up for class, Rory." He concluded, taking a seat again at the table and taking a long drag of his cigarette, being sure to blow the smoke away from her face.

She was quietly staring at him, as though he was a puzzle she could decipher if she stared at it long enough. He hated it, but his voice was lost as he went to tell her to stop it. She was the only person who believed in him, and she was the only person he'd ever loved.

"So you left," she asked, which he replied to with a nod "okay then… I think I get it. But why did you come back? Why aren't you halfway to Mexico by now?"

"California," He corrected her.

"Why California?"

"That's where my dad lives." He answered simply enough, but he knew she wanted more. He explained in detail of his chance meeting with his father, and Luke's reluctance of letting said fatherly bonding session occur. He told her about Luke's ultimatum, and how he felt like perhaps he should get to know his father before he wrote him off as a deadbeat dad.

"You should've said goodbye," She replied sadly, feeling a tear in her eye that she fought hard to keep back.

"Why? I'm here, aren't I? I'm here and I'll get my GED sometime in the next year, and I'll be sticking around for a while… we don't need a goodbye." This time he mustered a full Jess Mariano copyrighted smirk, but it did nothing to appease the girl sitting across from him.

"That doesn't explain why you came back."

"Don't make me say it."

"I need to hear it, Jess."

"You know why! It's the only reason I could stand this town to begin with. You know you're the only thing keeping me from running as far as I can from this place, Rory. You're the only thing in my life that makes any sense, as cheesy as that sounds," He muttered the last part to the ground, too embarrassed by his own admission to look her in the eye.

"I like cheesy. But Jess, this thing between you and me… I don't know. I'm going to Europe straight after graduation. I think maybe we should, you know, take that time to… think. Don't you think?" She looked up at him hesitantly and was relieved to find he looked to be agreeing with her. He looked neither aloof nor devastated by her idea, but rather the perfect middle ground, which is exactly where she stood. She smiled sadly and stood to leave, knowing that he'd be having an interesting conversation with his uncle in a moment.

"Rory, about Kyle's party…" Jess started, unsure how to apologise for his actions.

"Forget it. But now that you mention it, I really don't want to think about Kyle's party when I think about us," She stepped close to him and wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling him in for a sweet kiss that pushed no boundaries yet was more exciting than anything shared at the ill-fated party. "There, that's better. I want the last time we kissed to actually be a good memory, you know? Or at least bittersweet, which I guess this is."

"Definitely bittersweet," Jess agreed, allowing one of his rare full-blown smiles to appear.

"I'll be seeing you around, I guess… I mean, you guys handle the coffee, of course I'll be seeing you!"

With a parting look, she closed the apartment door behind her, determined not to break her resolve and run back in there and never let him go. This way was painful now, but she knew in time it would evolve to remain bittersweet, and that was something she could deal with.


	2. From Paris, With Love

_**Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of my little tale, I was so wrapped up in my fear of writing like an American that I completely forgot to pimp myself out for reviews. Every time I get a review, a kitten gets its wings! Or so I've been told… I think… I don't know, I was drunk at the time!**_

_**Disclaimer: Still only owning a **_**Gilmore Girls**_** box set, not much more. My mum and I wanted to call our dog Paul Anka, but it got vetoed so his name is Fred. I have a copy of **_**Anna Karenina**_**around here somewhere if that counts for anything.**_

**From Paris (not Gellar), With Love**

A tense air hung in the air of Luke's, mingled in by a hefty amount of fear and nervousness. The moment Jess has stepped outside that morning and felt cold, he'd been excited. That meant that his summer suffering had almost ended. After minding the diner while his uncle was away on some romantic cruise with his girlfriend, there had really been nothing more to his summer than serving burgers and reading. Wal-Mart and missed graduations seemed like a thing of the past as he waited for the return of not only Luke, but the girl who had taken up a large portion of his summer by way of daydreams. He was man enough to admit (to himself) that he daydreamed.

"So the place didn't burn down," was his uncle's version of a greeting. He was sporting an old suitcase and was followed in by his girlfriend, Nicole.

"Golly Uncle Luke, you didn't think we'd use the stove without you, did you? We've been serving PB&J and ice cream all summer!" He replied sarcastically, his smirk firmly in place.

"Funny. Now please get out of my way before I have to knock your smirk off," Luke responded gruffly, back to his usual Angry Diner Guy persona. Jess gave a mock salute and went behind the counter, mentally preparing himself to take Kirk's order. "Oh make sure the coffee's full. I heard Babette saying that Lorelai and Rory aren't home yet, which means they'll be after caffeine when they find out she's rang all the foreign embassies."

Jess looked up quickly, trying to hide his hopeful expression from his unperceptive uncle. When nothing else was said, he turned his attention to the coffee pot. He noticed that Kirk seemed distressed at the idea that the stove hadn't been on all summer, despite his many burger orders that seemed both warm and cooked. It was at the height of his tirade about bacteria in burgers that Jess saw her, looking carefree and happy as she laughed about something her mother said. Probably some ridiculous anecdote about a member of a foreign government they'd visited in their trip to Europe. He noticed her pause as she saw him staring in her direction, but it was only momentary and her calm exterior resumed. The brief flash of nervousness calmed Jess, to an extent. _She's just as freaked about this as I am_, he thought with little humour.

"Why is it my fault that the tower of Pisa had no Pizza? I figured it'd have a restaurant at the top, like the Eiffel-"

"Mom, this is the seventh time since we left that you've brought up the infamous Pisa/Pizza incident… are you finally feeling sorry for the poor locals you terrorised?"

"Terrorised is such an ugly word… Oh look, Jess! Let's go say hi to Jess!" Lorelai enthused, ever the poised conversation re-router. Jess looked at the two before pulling out two mugs and filling them with coffee. "Yay, well trained Jess!" Rolling her eyes at her mother, Rory looked up at the boy who'd been constantly on her mind no matter what native language surrounded her.

"Hi," He said simply.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Hey."

"Did I just time travel? Quick, call Doc Brown, alert Bill and Ted, this is monumental!" Lorelai exclaimed, causing Rory to let out a slight giggle and Jess to relax his shoulders slightly.

"You just named a bunch of guys that already know how to time travel," Rory said with a grin.

"Though to be fair, none of them did it sitting down," Jess argued.

"Dirty!" was the unanimous reply from the mother and daughter.

The three sat for a while, chatting inconsequently about whatever popped into their heads. Soon Luke came down and yelled at Jess for ignoring customers (the lone Kirk) and told him to take a break. He ordered three lots of burgers and fries, but Lorelai insisted she'd sit and eat hers at the counter and bug Luke while the two of them catch up at one of the tables. Jess responded with a non-committal shrug and walked over to a table near the window, Rory following behind with a paper bag in her hand. The two sat in silence for a moment, picking at their food, before she spoke.

"I bought you something… it's from France. You probably won't like it, but-"

"If you bought it, I'm going to like it. No one knows me like you, Rory." He said earnestly, only to cringe inwardly at his proverbial jump into the deep end. Now their conversation was going to get serious sooner rather than later. However he took her grin and slight blush as a sign that she wasn't entirely against what he was saying. Maybe she'd taken the summer to think about him, like he had with her? Even the most optimistic man in the world would have some doubts with that considering the whirlwind tour of exciting countries she'd just visited, as Jess was hardly a glass half full kind of guy.

Rory opened the paper bag and removed a small, wrapped gift, smiling at his surprised look that it definitely wasn't a book. He unwrapped it with little care for the paper, reminding her strongly of her mother (Rory was one of those people who unwrapped a present very carefully so as not to tear it). It revealed a small, heavy replica of the Arc de Triomphe, which felt metallic but had been painted white to more resemble the monument itself.

"I figured you'd probably need a paperweight, I know you hate computers and this way anything you write won't blow away. Better than the Eiffel Tower, don't you think? It's too much like an 'I Love New York' t-shirt. They had those for Paris, but the heart was replaced with the tower. It's engraved at the top, you know? I picked it out myself, from a book I found in this shabby old bookstore in Paris."

Jess looked at the top to find it read: _Il n'est rien de réel que le rêve et l'amour._ Of course it was in French, a class he had been enrolled in but the few times he had actually shown up, he spent the entire time reading something completely unrelated. Be that as it may, the one or two words he recognised definitely piqued his interest. Nonetheless he was not going to be the one to bring up that conversation; instead, he thanked her for the gift, and managed to keep his sarcasm away from a situation that he would usually use it. Sincerity wasn't really his cup of tea.

"I'm not going to tell you what it means," she said suddenly, breaking the silence that had fallen between them as they ate "Just that it's something that caught my eye in the book… it reminded me of you. Though I nearly went with 'Don't stop believing'…" she said with a smirk.

"For the _Journey _fan in all of us. Glad you went with the mystery, now you've given me an excuse to call Scooby and the gang for wacky shenanigans."

"Is there any other kind?"

"If there is, I don't want to know about it."

Silence.

"So, are we going to talk about the elephant over there or are we going to keep feeding it peanuts?" Rory asked matter-of-factly, or as straightforward as one can be when talking about a metaphorical pachyderm. Jess opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the arrival of Lorelai.

"Luke's just told me that Babette's been calling the embassies of every European nation. Seriously, every place! Romania, Slovakia, Bono…"

"Mom, Bono's head may be the size of a small country, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't have his own embassy… yet."

"Well let's hurry up and show our faces to her before the Republic of Bono gets off the ground! You're wasting valuable seconds by listening to me ramble!" Lorelai looked impatient and eager to prove her presence in North America, which Rory knew meant she had to go along with it. Jess, while knowing that Lorelai could do this on her own, understood why Rory needed to go along with it.

"Meet me on the bridge in an hour?" He asked hopefully, to which she nodded as she was pushed outside the door, her mother chattering incessantly about countries which were probably fictional. 

* * *

><p>She was late. This fact was unusual in itself, but the fact that she was over an hour late made it akin to something on Ripley's. Rory Gilmore (her mother's procrastination notwithstanding) was <em>never<em> late. And yet Jess was still waiting for her. It didn't hurt that he'd brought a book with him, though a day where he was reading Neruda was bound to be somewhat strange. The words failed to captivate him as he kept glancing up, trying to see her before she saw him. That was not to be the case, of cause.

"Jess! You're still here! Oh my God, I'm so sorry! There was a letter, and havoc, and just… ugh! Stupid Yale!" Rory looked like she'd been running, which he was pretty sure went against a Gilmore rule. Not that he minded, she looked sort of hot when out of breath and panting. Mentally he heard Rory in his mind, 'dirty!'

"I'm pretty sure the point of an Ivy-League school is to be the opposite of stupid," he replied casually, as though he hadn't been picturing a million different scenarios of why she late for the last hour.

"You'd think so, but apparently not! Turns out I have to be there in three days instead of almost two weeks! I'm so unprepared! I don't have my books, or a trailer, or anything! Oh God, what if the store that sells Post-Its has already run out? Or they only have one colour left? That's going to completely screw up my entire system, all because I thought I'd be cool and backpack across Europe like one of those kids that just turns up the first day unprepared! I'm not first day unprepared kid! I'm meticulously planned out study charts kid!"

"Whoa, slow down there rambler. The world's not going to end if you can't get the right colour notepad. Besides, there are enough stores in Hartford that cater for this sort of thing, and heaps of people won't get anything for weeks. You're going to be fine… better than fine. You're going into your element here, Rory. It's a bunch of smart kids that all want to be smarter than each other. I'll be surprised if they don't make you queen within a week."

"You're right, of course. Thanks. I don't know what I'm going to do without you this year," Jess' mouth twitched slightly at this statement. Out of all the things she'd said today, the gift she'd gotten _personally engraved_ for him, this is not the way he thought things would be going.

"I'm guessing you've made up your mind then," He said coldly. Rory looked taken aback by his attitude, but then mentally shook herself for her blasé approach to this situation.

"I've been thinking about it all summer," she started, and when he simply nodded, she continued "Every place I went, it reminded me of you. I was in Italy, I was wondering if you had family there. France, I'd see some guy in a leather jacket and my heart would skip a beat, thinking that it could absurdly be you. England, I'd go into some record store in a back street and think 'hey, Jess would really like this place'. You were everywhere."

"And at what point exactly did you decide that this thing between you and me wasn't worth it anymore? Because I'm sorry Rory, but you couldn't make this sound any more like a breakup speech if you tried." He was hurt. Maybe it wasn't her fault, he didn't know, but he knew that he was going to take it out on her. She was looking at him, he could see the tears that were forming, he felt a rush of self-hatred when she finally began crying.

"I n-need to do this o-on my own, J-Jess," She answered as tears rolled freely down her face "This thing w-we have, that we should have, n-neither of us are r-ready for. I t-think we n-need to grow up, apart… p-please understand." She finished as resolutely as she could, wiping her eyes as more tears came.

Jess only did what came naturally to him: he pulled her close and held her tightly, stroking her hair and muttering incomprehensible words of comfort as he tried his best to soothe her. It took a moment but she soon quieted, merely enjoying the feeling of being in his arms, the familiar smell of aftershave and cigarette as well as something that was uniquely Jess.

Gently he pulled her to her feet and kissed the top of her head, reluctantly letting go and turning to walk away. She held onto his arm, however, and he turned around. Almost immediately she lunged, kissing him as passionately as she could, as though trying to convey her confusion and mix of feelings with this one gesture. Her hands wove their way into her hair as his found the comfortable place at the small of her back, pulling her as close as humanly possible, nearly every inch of their bodies touching as they refused to let go of this moment.

Breathing soon became necessary and they broke apart by only an inch for a second before Jess began kissing down her neck, making sure to pay special attention to those sensitive spots he'd familiarised himself with before the summer. He cheered inwardly a little as she breathed out his name, that turned into a small moan when he found a particularly potent place behind her ear.

"Really. Should. Stop now." He managed to say between kisses.

"Mmhmm," was the only reply Rory could muster. Though both were losing themselves in the moment as much as they could, they knew as soon as it ended they would have to go their separate ways. There would be no more stolen kisses on the bridge, or five minute make out sessions in the apartment before Luke burst in looking for mustard or the like. This was it, for the foreseeable future at least. Finally, and with every regret in the world, it was Jess who had enough sense to pull away.

"I think your mom will come looking for you soon, and I don't want to be at the end of that torch and pitchfork party," He said, smirk in place as he stepped away from her and towards his previous reading place.

"Right. Well… I guess I'll be seeing you. Goodbye doesn't really seem right, does it? I mean, it is goodbye, but-"

"I know what you mean. Good luck with Yale, and the whole becoming growing up thing," his smirk grew more devious "though if you ask my opinion, I'd say you're enough of a woman already."

Rory merely grinned at his remark. She didn't admonish him for it, nor did he get a solitary 'dirty!' from the girl. It was just like she was enjoying the moment they had to be just Rory and Jess, two people who liked each other, probably were in love and there were no ridiculous problems or hurdles for them to work their way through.

But what was the fun in that?

**A/N: Dun dun dunnnnnnnn! There you have it people, I broke them up! I told you it'd follow canon for a large majority. The coming chapters will have weddings, stress, self-help tapes and… Dean. If you narrowed your eyes or shook your fist at the screen when reading that name, don't worry, you're not alone!**

**Oh and in case anyone thought it was odd that Lorelai and Jess managed to be civil here… I imagine Jess is just overwhelmingly happy to see Rory that he forgets to be a total ass, and Lorelai just spend the whole summer with her daughter who was missing the hoodlum in question, so I'm thinking she'd be lenient on him in this case. Or at least she figured she'd get peace from the Jess saga Rory had been putting her through. Either way, it's a fun little growth process in the two characters that I plan fully to exploit… and it'll have lots of Lane, too!**

**And remember, reviews let me know if you like the story or not. No reviews, and for all I know you want Jess to become a rodeo clown. **


	3. More Than Just A Night

**This will be an odd one, but the angst is killing me. I'm the kind of writer who loves to angst it up purely so I have an excuse to write something fun and random. This is that chapter (mostly). I'm also going to get something off my chest: I'm a huge Lane fangirl. She (along with Paris) is my favourite character in the series, and it sucks that she wasn't around as much in the end. **

**A warning that things get a little mature in this chapter. It's T for a reason, folks!**

**Also, thank you so much to you guys who reviewed! I had this huge smile the entire time I was reading them. Big thanks also to you who just read, I'm down with you non-reviewers (being one myself a lot of the time).**

**Disclaimer: Good news everyone! I won the lottery and bought the rights to **_**Gilmore Girls**_**! The movie will be out next year and I've got Milo on board as both Jess and my personal love slave… and then I woke up. Still own nothing. **

More Than Just A Night

Jess Mariano was broke. Dead broke. Broker than a new toy on Boxing Day. He'd spent the majority of his savings on a non-refundable ticket to California ('it's cheaper than being able to exchange it, and I'm sure as hell not changing my mind') and pretty much the rest on his trip back to Stars Hollow. He'd bought a few books over the summer, ordered takeout when he didn't feel like a burger and fries, and he'd started smoking again. Now that the summer had been over for a while the crowds were settling down at the diner, and Luke insisted he take days off to study or just enjoy himself. His savings had now vanished, his hours were getting cut, and he needed something to stop him from going crazy. His salvation came in early September in the form of Lorelai Gilmore.

She was raving to Luke about something ridiculous, he assumed. She'd been in here a lot more often lately, probably due to her missing her daughter. He got that, but his means of missing Rory revolved much more around reading on the old bridge and writing in the margins, knowing she'd be back eventually so he could show her all the new discoveries he'd made in her absence. Some would call it pining, but Jess knew he did it for himself as much, if not more, than for her. Nonetheless, he realised he'd have to give the elder Gilmore her pie and coffee as Luke was too busy watching her in the most obvious way possible, not trying to diffuse her at all. Luke complained about Lorelai's ramblings, but Jess figured it was also a secret turn-on for him. He _definitely _got that.

"It's awful Luke. We're running behind on schedule and over budget. There's not nearly enough people to do all the jobs that need doing and we can't afford anyone with an experience. It's a disaster!" She stopped ranting when Jess presented her with pie and a fresh cup of coffee "This is like heaven. You went from Vader to Yoda with this, Jess."

"I heard you saying you need help at the inn? I'm your man," He said suddenly, not even sure where it came from. But it seemed like a good idea so he went with it.

"Hmm… I don't know. I mean, do you have an experience?" Lorelai said in between moments of pie.

"Well I can hold a hammer if that's what you mean," He said with a smirk "I'll also work for minimum wage."

"That's probably all I could offer you," She admitted thoughtfully.

"Plus if you like, I'll let you throw nails and bolts and things at my head."

"Really?"

"You have my word."

Lorelai grinned at the young man. Her opinion of him had changed a lot recently. She still disliked him for her own reasons, but it was definitely diminishing. Especially after the talk with Rory the day before Yale, where she'd confessed everything she'd been hiding from her mother. About his leaving for California but coming back _for her_, to which Rory had replied by fleeing to Europe. Not the most mature response by any means, but it was a lot less stupid than leaving on a road trip mere days before a wedding. Then there was the paperweight that Lorelai had seen her study carefully and get just the right engraving, but she had no idea why at the time. But of course it was for him, the boy who'd offered her his heart on their return from vacation, the heart her daughter decided to ignore in order to pursue her dreams at college and apparently learn how to 'grow up'. She thought her daughter had grown up long before she herself had, but this recent foray into romance proved her dead wrong.

But this wasn't about Rory; this was about giving Jess a second chance. If she was honest with herself she hadn't given him much of a first chance before writing him off as a loser. There wasn't enough of a hypocrite in her to judge him for being a high school dropout, and the way he'd been seemingly managing himself both over the summer and recently had given her an insight into the young man her daughter saw, the boy with all the potential in the world who just needed a second chance. The parallels to his life and her own at that age were making her head hurt. Though she was glad there was no baby involved, considering who he'd recently been dating.

"I'll give you a trial with Tom. If he likes you, you're good. Actually I don't think Tom likes anyone… you two will work great together!" Lorelai joked happily, actually grateful to this boy she'd disliked for so long for helping her with one of her problems.

Jess gave her a small smile, genuinely appreciating her giving him an opportunity. Later he would discover his job on the site would be literally just hammering nails and carrying heavy stuff to give to more qualified workers, but this was inconsequential. He had a job for the time being, and that was all that mattered. Here, though the two were unaware of it at the time, began the unlikely friendship between Jess and Lorelai.

* * *

><p>It had been a long, hard day at the Dragonfly, and Jess would be very content in taking a shower and a long nap. With Luke spending the night (and probably the morning) with Nicole at her place, he knew that wouldn't be possible. He was being faced with the trials of holding down two physically demanding jobs, but he didn't mind the manual labour for the most part. Being a Wednesday night meant that the diner should be relatively quiet for the most part anyway, and he was dying to crack open a random book he'd found about child slavery. Shaking his head at his stupid love for depressing books, he clambered up the stairs to the apartment, determined to at least get that shower in before returning to the salt mines.<p>

Meanwhile, Rory was currently turning off into Stars Hollow. It was rare for her to be home in the middle of the week, but she had laundry. That and she missed the place. Her classes were seemingly mounting up beyond her control, and running to her mother seemed the most reasonable idea. Of course when your other options include learning to play the trombone for a living and running an illegal sock company, nearly anything is preferable. Regardless, she needed to get out of the stress inducing Yale and New Haven entirely.

After dumping all her clothes into the washing machine and getting all that started, Rory was beginning to wonder where her mother was. It was late, but that could mean that things at the Dragonfly were as hectic as usual. She could probably wait at Luke's and surprise her mother. Deciding the walk would do her good she left her car and made her way to her favourite diner.

Luke was at the counter, looking particularly grouchy. This was in contrast to his nice jacket and pants, which indicated that he was probably going somewhere. He brightened somewhat when he saw Rory.

"Hi Rory, what's with the not being at Yale?" Luke asked, forever blunt.

"Thought I'd come and see mom. Plus I had laundry. What's with the fancy clothes?" Rory retorted, equally as to the point.

"I'm supposed to be going to Nicole's tonight, but my delinquent nephew has decided to be a no-show. I know he's upstairs, I can hear his music, which probably means that the idiot's asleep. Shouldn't have let him take that extra job with Lorelai…" He muttered, and Rory wondered about what he was talking about. Since when did Jess work at the inn?

"Want me to go and get him?" She asked, noticing for the first time that the diner was completely packed. "One of these days Luke, you're going to hire someone extra."

Luke responded with a grunt as four different plates were ready to go to their respective tables. Taking that as an affirmative, Rory ascended the stairs before opening the door without bothering to knock. That was her first mistake.

"Oh my god!" She exclaimed loudly as she saw Jess walking around the apartment in only his underwear. He stopped his movement when he saw her.

"Jesus Rory! There's a thing called knocking for a reason, you know." Jess said, embarrassed slightly, still too stunned by her appearance in the apartment to move. Rory stood shocked, her mouth wide open at the sight before her, cheeks a bright shade of red. Despite her embarrassment at the situation, there was still a very large part of her that was thinking 'why haven't I seen him naked sooner?' which was ridiculous, as he wasn't _completely_ naked. He still had a pair of underwear on, a tiny black pair of boxer briefs that did literally nothing to hide, well… anything.

_This is dangerous thinking, Gilmore_. Her reasonable self was right, of course. But it didn't help matters that his hair was soaking wet and sticking up at odd angles, wanting her hands to help it along. Or the fact that he had a very, very nice-looking body, as far as she knew (she wasn't really an expert on men's bodies, funnily enough). He was thin, but toned. His arms looked a fair bit more muscular than she remembered, but she figured it was to do with whatever he was doing at the inn. His entire body was a nice olive colour, though he was much tanner on the parts of his body that regularly saw sunlight. This was in complete opposition with her complexion, which was pale at best and freckly at worst. Finally she looked at his face, and was horrified to see that he was smirking at her. She'd been caught out.

"Done staring?" He asked simply, though in his head he was almost dancing at her reaction to him. It was exactly the reaction he'd wanted when they were dating, the response she'd make when they finally got close to doing _that thing_ which he knew she hated the name of.

"Uh… yes. It's just that I've never… never-"

"Seen a guy practically naked?" He gave as a response to her stammering. She just nodded, the blush on her cheeks getting decidedly worse. This could be fun. "Really? Makes me wonder what exactly you and Dean did while you were dating."

Rory scoffed "Believe me, everything there was completely clothes-on."

"Plenty of trouble can be had with your clothes on," He answered mischievously, smirking all the while. Rory stepped closer to him, and Jess was both surprised and impressed by her boldness. He closed the remaining gap and put one hand on her waist as the other cupped her face, forcing him to look up at her.

What he saw in her eyes confused him; it was like nothing he had ever seen on her face before. It took him a moment to realised it was lust. He tilted his head questioningly, but she still said nothing. Instead she moved her hands from her side and onto his chest, tracing with her fingers the lines his body made and enjoyed the way his muscles felt beneath her hands. It was enough to drive Jess crazy, so he ended it the only way he knew how: by pulling her as close as humanly possible and kissing her fiercely.

Rory was slightly shocked at the intimate embrace, but she wasn't complaining. She moved her hands from his chest and wrapped them around his neck, before finally getting to sink them into the hair she wanted so badly to tame. His hands soon moved from the safety of her hips to the less frequently explored skin of her stomach, wanting to see so much more of her but unsure of where her limits were or even what this spontaneous make-out session meant. It was Rory who seemingly made this decision for him however when she removed her lips from his own and began kissing down his neck, sucking on a particularly sensitive spot. It took all his self-control not to rip her clothes off right there and have his way with her on the kitchen table, but he doubted Luke would like that at all. Instead he led her towards his side of the apartment, letting her hands and lips roam as he resisted doing the same. All resistance was lost however when it was Rory that pushed him onto his bed before straddling his hips. His navel could feel the cotton of her own underwear hidden beneath her skirt, and that was when coherent thought left him completely. Instinct was taking over as he managed to flip the two of them over on his small bed, pinning her beneath him. He paused to look at her, out of breath and the best shade of pink he'd ever seen, before moving his hands to the hem of her shirt and pulling it over her head in one swift movement before throwing it halfway across the room. He smirked down at her, very pleased to finally get to see what sort of underwear Rory Gilmore wears. He was surprised at the lacy red bra that he found, but who was he to complain? He resumed his attention to her neck, but continued down her collarbone, kissing his way into the gap beneath her breasts. He was definitely enjoying the fun new noises she was making. Figures she'd be a loud one.

"Matching panties?" He managed to breath into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. She grinned at him sheepishly as his hands moved towards the zip that kept her skirt on.

"I don't know how people don't match… I feel weird." She admitted, making him laugh but at the same time building his arousal. This made him wonder why Rory hadn't yet commented on, or freaked out about, the very prominent bulge in his briefs. He figured he didn't care, as the worlds 'Rory Gilmore naked' span around in his head. He unzipped her skirt and threw it far away from where her shirt landed, and rose up a bit to see her in full. Her underwear did indeed match, both pieces being bright red, lacy and totally something he never expected her to wear. Not that it mattered what she wore (though nothing was an excellent option), she was beautiful regardless. As he moved his hand to her inner thigh, caressing her legs softly, he thought again about what she meant to him. As usual only three words came to him, and it was at that moment that he knew it was true.

"Rory-"

"Jess," they spoke at the same time. By the concerned look on her face he figured hers was more urgent. "I don't want to do, you know… _that _tonight." She finished quietly, her ever-present blush deepening. Jess nodded quickly, knowing better than to push her into anything stupid. He rolled off of her before she caught his arm and pulled him back down, kissing him sweetly on the lips.

"Rory, it's cool. More than cool. We should probably get dressed, though," Jess said level-headedly. Rory shook her head fiercely.

"That's not what I want. Just because we don't do _that_, doesn't mean we can't do… other… things." She finished shyly, running her finger across the waistband of his briefs so as to further get her point across. Upon realising that this was not denial, merely a change of plans, Jess went from mildly put out to turned-on by her control of this situation in an instant. Grinning down at her, he moved one hand to the top of her underwear, as though asking permission.

"Trust me- you're going to like this part." He said sincerely before kissing her sweetly, grabbing one of her hands with his free one, and letting his occupied hand slip into her panties.

* * *

><p>After two hours or so (though it feels like so much longer) Rory and Jess manage to find their discarded articles of clothing and make themselves look respectable before heading downstairs. Before the two lifted the curtain to greet an angry Luke, they both decided it was probably time to talk about what happened.<p>

"You okay?" Jess asked, concern in his voice.

"So much better than okay," She said happily, before she winced a little "Okay, maybe it hurt a little more than anticipated-"

"Sorry about that."

"Not your fault. But it makes me think that if that's how much all the before stuff hurts…" She trailed off, and Jess grinned a little apologetically.

"Not that I know first-hand, being male and all, but I've been told that sex absolutely sucks for girls the first time. And the second, the third… the fourth is apparently not too shabby though. The most important thing is you do it with someone you trust, and who you really want to see naked. Tell me Rory, how many boys have you seen naked?" He asked, putting on his most innocent face and earning himself a slap on the arm.

"Jerk! Though it makes me wonder, and I don't want to know if it's like a hundred or something, but how many girls have you-"

"Not as many as you'd think," He replied, leaving only one question in her mind.

"Okay, good. I'd like to think I'd rate in your top 10," she panicked "I do rate in your top 10 right? Oh gosh, I probably don't and now I'm just making assumptions because I thought I did everything right because it looked like you were enjoying yourself but I probably didn't and you secretly hate me for it!"

Jess smirked at her rant, as though he knew it was coming. "Rory, are you seriously asking me to rank the girls who have given me blowjobs?"

Rory blushed at the term but nodded her head slightly, staring at the floor. Jess, sensing her discomfort and unwarranted fears of her 'abilities' (which he will now and forever call them, making him smirk) pulled her chin up so they were looking eye to eye.

"You'd always be number one." He said honestly, slightly surprised by the cliché coming out of his mouth yet knowing it was true. Rory shook her head in disbelief.

"That can't be true, not really. All those other girls had to be more experienced than me, they knew what they were doing…" She trailed off miserably.

"It is true," He smirked at her, but this was his smirk that made her think 'dirty!' "You're a natural. If I hadn't been 100% sure it was your first time I wouldn't have believed it. Guess you've just got a gift for that sort of thing… oh imagine the look on everyone in Stars Hollow's faces if they knew about _that_ particular talent," He said wickedly, causing a smile to creep on her face, as well as another blush. How she never fainted with all the blood that rushed to her cheeks he'd never know. "Besides, even if you were absolutely horrible at it- which you were definitely not- it still would've ranked number one by me. It wasn't just something I did because I was bored, it actually meant something."

"How do you mean?"

"We're not a one-night stand Rory, you and me. I mean we can continue to kid ourselves into thinking we're apart, which I know is the next thing coming out of your mouth so don't even bother, but we both know deep down that this thing we have, it is what it is. Now I'm going to do the last thing I want to do right now and walk into that diner like nothing happened, because I know that's what you want, but I want you to know that I can't stand what's happening between us and if I knew there was any way to change your mind I'd do it in a heartbeat."

"Why, Jess? Why do you put up with it? With me?" Rory asked tentatively, slightly afraid of his answer.

Jess looked at her incredulously. Of all her brains and books she'd read, she hadn't managed to figure _this_ out yet?

"Because I love you."

"You-"

"Don't think too much about it, okay? And definitely don't think you have to say it back. I just wanted you to know. And now you do, and the world hasn't ended yet and I think I'm still alive so we're good. Just, whenever you think the world's out to get you, or you want to run over a professor or something… just remember that I do. Love you, that is." Jess peeked out the curtain and looked back in confusion "Yeah, I need to get in there. You wouldn't believe who's working the tables."

"Okay… and, um thankyou? That seems like a stupid thing to say right now, but thank you. It mightn't mean much to you, but what you said… I think I think it, if that makes any sense. But…"

"I know, you've got to go save the galaxy on your own. I get it, Rory. I'm not some idiot who's going to get into a rage about a girl not saying 'I love you' back," noting the flinch and frown, he put two and two together "No way, he did not!" She nodded "Well he's a bigger idiot than I thought. By the way, you might want to go upstairs and borrow a jacket… you're not going to want to face your mother with a neck like that." He said with a smirk as she went hurtling back up the stairs.

Trying to keep his emotions in check, he stepped out of the back area as he changed his self-satisfied look of smugness into a believable scowl.

"Why the hell are you serving burgers, Lane?"

"Jess! Oh thank God! Luke needed to run and I came in with Lorelai so I offered to take over because you were asleep upstairs or something. I thought it'd be easy, but I'm so confused! Help!"

Jess and Lane spent the next fifteen minutes or so sorting through the remaining crowd. Though he was finding it odd that Rory hadn't come out yet, he knew better than to discuss it with Lane. The two had been talking more lately but that didn't mean he was about to spill any secrets that he and Rory shared. If he guessed correctly she'd be hearing all about them from a female perspective anyway. Soon enough the place was completely empty and he was about to send Lane home when the door burst open, which heralded the arrival of Lorelai, who was supporting a very drunk Dean Forrester. He seemed to be rambling under his breath about something, and Jess hesitated at first when Lorelai told him to bring the inebriated man some coffee. Eyes narrowed, he complied only because he knew Rory would want him to. That girl made him act like such an idiot, sometimes.

Dean drained the lukewarm coffee fairly quickly, and looked like he had his bearings enough to support himself on a chair. His eyes were coming in and out of focus as Lorelai explained what was going on.

"I think it was his bachelor party, he's marrying that Lindsay girl next week. He must've wandered away from his friends." Jess was unsurprised that the ideal country boy was getting married straight out of high school, probably to a girl that would cook him dinner and ask how his day was. She was probably the exact opposite of his independent, spirited and intelligent ex-girlfriend. Figures.

"L-Lorelai?" Drunk Dean managed to croak out, still very much under the weather "I messed up, so bad. Missed so many chances, opportunities. I still love her, Lorelai. I still love… Rory." A silent ripple of tension went through the room, but Jess was the first to react with the only way he knew how: he grabbed Dean by his jacket and pulled him against the wall.

"She dumped you, you idiot. For me! When are you going to get that into your thick head of yours? You can't have her, because she's mine! Not yours, mine. I love her more than a brain-dead idiot like you could ever come close you comprehending." He growled menacingly, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Including the very present Rory herself, who'd been standing at the curtain waiting for Lane to leave long before Dean entered the diner. She was by no means shocked by Jess' reaction, but the way in which he called her 'mine' gave her the feeling that a million frogs were vomiting in her stomach. It was nervous, but at the same time new and exciting.

"Go ahead, hit me… you know she loved me more than she'll ever love you. I bet s-she's never even said it to you before… but she did to me." Dean slurred, a drunken grin making its way to his face. At first Jess considered giving the man what he wanted and hitting him right on the jaw, but he didn't have anything to prove to the drunken mess before him. His words were as hollow as his marriage, it seemed. Instead he let go of Dean, which caused him to slide to the floor in a slump.

"I wouldn't give you the satisfaction. Now go home, back to the fiancé you clearly love so much. I don't care who she is, she doesn't deserve to have to marry a prick like you."

"I'll take him." Lane volunteered quickly, obviously wanting to get away from the anger that was coursing through Jess visibly. As soon as she'd closed the door both Lorelai and Jess turned to each other, ready for some kind of confrontation, be it good or bad, before hearing the loud footsteps coming from the back. Rory popped out and grinned easily at the two, as though she hadn't been listening the entire time.

"Hey mom! Sorry I took so long, guys, I went to get a jacket and ended up skimming your entire library, Jess. Half of those books are mine, by the way!" Jess tried his best to lose the tense feeling he had and gave Rory a careful half-smile. She'd chosen his leather jacket to wear, of course. The same jacket that had taken him years of allowance money he stole off Liz to buy. Though he had to admit, it looked a lot better on her.

"Rory! Jesus, I was wondering where you were! Have you been up there the whole time you've been home?"

"Yeah, Luke sent me up to wake Jess up but turns out he was reading… you wouldn't believe the world of bear training mom, it's horrible! They chain them up and everything." Jess was impressed at her readily available cover story, though he supposed that books were the obvious route to go with the two of them. He smiled a little as the mother and daughter started raving about dancing bears, with Rory waving him a quick goodbye as they walked out of the diner.

Figuring he'd had enough excitement for the night, both good (well, incredible) and bad, he closed up the place and went to bed.

* * *

><p>Both Rory and Lorelai were too wound up for sleep, so they both changed into their pyjamas and turned on the TV and started to watch a horrible old movie about knights fighting a wizard, or a dragon. Or maybe it was both. That's how much attention either payed to the background noise, both so lost in their own thoughts.<p>

"Hon?" Lorelai began delicately.

"Yeah mom?"

"When you were up in Luke's apartment, there was this thing with Dean-"

"I know. I heard the whole thing, you know. I was right behind the curtain."

"Wow… How does it feel to live in a Shakespearean play?"

"Pretty damn rotten, I'd say," Rory replied glumly, clutching the pillow to her chest.

"I'm not so sure with Dean… I'd say it was just him being a drunken idiot. But Jess… wow. You heard him say he loved you. That must be something,"

"He'd already told me," Lorelai looked shocked at her daughter withholding that sort of information "Tonight, while we were upstairs. He said I didn't have to say it back or anything, he just wanted me to know."

"To run the risk of repeating myself here: wow. Did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Say it back."

"No."

"Oh. Well then, he must've been serious about that whole loving you thing then, to yell it at Dean when you didn't even reciprocate… at least verbally."

"Yeah, I think he is."

"Then, please explain to me why the two of you aren't dating again?"

"You know why," Rory said sadly, as though wishing it weren't true.

"I know, you need to save the galaxy on your own." Lorelai stated, causing her daughter to break into giggles.

"You realise that is exactly what Jess said? Sometimes the two of you are so alike!"

"So I've been noticing lately. He's maybe not such a bad person after all. As much as it pains my poor old heart to say this, I think I might have been too quick to judge him… and I'm sorry I didn't give him a better chance when you two were together."

"To steal a line from the woman who birthed me: wow. That took guts to admit that, mom."

"I'm nothing if not humble," Lorelai said sagely, causing her daughter to snort in disagreement "What? I eat humble pie like it was made of cherries! Or blueberry… do you reckon your lover boy will have pie tomorrow? I like pie."

"I don't know, we'll ask in the morning."

"Speaking of which, why aren't you halfway to New Haven by now? I mean, I put your clothes in the dryer and everything!"

"My classes got cancelled tomorrow, which is apparently very rare but does happen. So I can spend most of tomorrow with you before heading back to school."

"But tomorrow's Thursday! I figure you have some schoolwork or something to occupy yourself with until mommy finishes work?"

"Always," Rory said, inwardly freaking out about her study load. After tonight though, she really felt like she couldn't open up to her mom about her schoolwork. The entire walk home had been spent talking through hassles being caused by the inn. Her mother shouldn't have to worry about her as well.

"Good. Now I don't know about you but I feel like my head is going to fall off if I don't get some sleep soon. See you in the morning?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty beat myself." Rory agreed, standing a little too quickly and wincing a little, memories of the night coming back to her in startling detail.

"You okay there, hon? Is it the mattress? I can get you a new Yale mattress,"

"Nah I just spent a few nights falling asleep at my desk… I'll be okay," She lied.

They both said their goodnights and went towards their separate bedrooms, but when faced with her bed Rory suddenly felt entirely overwhelmed by everything. School was becoming near impossible to manage, there was the problem with getting on the newspaper, Paris was driving her insane, and then there was the whole thing happening with Jess…

Jess.

She found her slippers at the foot of her bed and opened her window up wide enough before slipping out of it. Closing it most of the way she set off on foot to her destination, feeling fairly cold in her shorts and tank top. The jacket which Jess had given her had been discarded as soon as she'd gotten all the dark marks on her neck covered. She was just lucky it was still fairly warm despite being early October. Finding the key to the diner easily, she sneaked inside quietly, somewhat surprised to hear no noise coming from upstairs. He was probably asleep, she thought. Still she made her way to the door to the apartment. What if he didn't want to see her? No, he would not have said the things he did if that were true. Bracing herself she opened the door silently and slipped inside. There she found him lying face up, staring at the ceiling. She could see his face in the moonlight, and it looked pensive. She always wanted to know what he was thinking, and now was no exception. She snuck over quietly until he turned to face her, his face showing shock.

"Rory… what are you doing here? Did you sneak over just so you could catch me in my underwear again?" His teasing question caught her off guard.

"You sleep in your underwear? Don't you get cold?"

"Well usually I just sleep naked," He said as her eyes widened "But tonight seemed like a night for boxers. Which I'm now glad for, because you don't look like you've snuck over here to get in my pants. What's up?"

"I'm so scared." She replied, sniffling. The sniffle itself took her by surprise, she didn't even know she felt like crying. Jess looked at her unreadably for a moment, before pulling back the covers to invite her in. Against her better judgment, Rory complied, the warmth of his bed hitting her hard as he looked into her eyes, bringing his arms around her to hold her to his chest.

"You're so warm," She remarked as though it was an oddity.

"Unlike you, who feels like ice. I'm glad you came to see me, but you should really consider wearing more next time. It'll keep you warm and keep me from getting distracted by how amazing your body is. But enough about that… why are you scared?"

She poured her heart out to him that night, about all her fears of failure, of trying to be the best she could be and failing. Yale, Paris, writing, all of it poured out as he held her tightly and stroked her hair, listening intently as he never would when they were together officially. Eventually she began to calm down, exhausted from the burden that had now lifted somewhat. It felt good to give some of her worries to someone else, though she was worried that alongside those worries went a piece of her heart, that she gave to him and him alone. They'd spent a few moments in silence, just holding one another, before Jess had to speak.

"Rory… sleep with me tonight."

"Jess, you know that I-"

"That's not what I meant, though if you do change your mind on that let me know and I'll be happy to help. Just… stay. I start work at six anyway and your mother usually gets in at about seven-thirty grumbling about how she just woke up. You'll have plenty of time to get home. Stay with me?"

Rory's response was by turning her back to him and moving her back closer to his chest. He replied by draping an arm around her, finding her hand and holding onto it as though she'd leave the moment he dare let his eyes close. With her hand in his he knew it was real and not some dream, and he knew the memory of this one night would have to last him a while. She wouldn't be letting her guard down again for a long, long time. He could accept that, he supposes, as long as he's the one ready to hold her as soon as she wants to be with someone for more than just a night.

**A/N: Heavens, that ended up a lot longer (and steamier) than anticipated. I hope you liked it, let me know if you hated it. This chapter was going to focus on Lane and Lorelai learning to love Jess, but I guess Rory just wanted a slice of the action (dirty!). **

**Reviews, my pets? I'd be ever so pleased. And point out mistakes I miss! I learn that way!  
><strong>


	4. Bonding: Part One

**This is the first part of the chapter I meant to write last time, but Rory butted her big face in and gave me that pout so I gave in. Good news: It's almost Christmas! It's weird having to write about Christmas while it's the middle of winter, but I guess it'll give me a good idea of how cold a northern hemisphere December is. Right now I'm freezing under a few blankets and hating you people who have summer. By summer I'll be praying for a cold snap, so maybe I'm just fickle when it comes to weather. **

**Think of reviews like a hug: they cost nothing, feel awesome and don't give you chlamydia! Of course, you won't get chlamydia if you don't review, promise.**

**Disclaimer: If today's opposite day, then I own everything in this story! If not, then maybe I get to own a background extra who starts dancing in a scene so they tell him to leave and he's banned from set. **

Bonding

It was lunchtime at Stars Hollow and Luke's was packed, typical in the middle of winter as the place had heating. A large amount of workers from the Dragonfly Inn had made the journey to what the owner of the site called 'the liquidised version of Jesus' and it was now the main haunt for their lunch break. This suited Luke fine, as he had found a stable waitress in the form of Lane Kim. Though she'd started out merely to cover for his flaky nephew, he soon realised that she was much more personable than he and Jess combined. Plus, she hadn't broken a plate yet, so he figured she was as close as he'd get to being content about someone who worked for him. Still, he noticed out of the corner of his eyes Kirk with a roll of something golden and sparkly in his hands.

"Kirk! Is that tinsel?" He barked, making a burly construction worker at the counter jump.

"Taylor wants all the stores to join in on the festivities, and since you never do it voluntarily… well, here I am."

"You realise that even if you put that crap up, the second you leave I'll tear it back down, right?"

"Taylor figures you'd be too lazy and just let it slide. Obviously he was mistaken… this isn't over Luke!" Kirk said as menacingly as that man could while running out the door. Luke followed him until the doorstep.

"It's over as long as you want a place to eat!" He shouted at the retreating figure, not noticing the form over his nephew behind him trying not to laugh.

"Wow Uncle Luke, that's not really in the Christmas spirit now is it? Shouldn't you and Kirk be baking cookies, picking out just the right tree to be thrown out in a week and kissing under the mistletoe?" Jess mocked.

"Very funny, though I know you hate this holiday as much as I do," Luke responded gruffly.

"More so, I'd bet."

"Why are you two fighting at the door over who's the biggest Grinch? Get out of the doorway, you're freezing me and the guys to death!" Lane chastised the both of them, and they reluctantly followed her orders. "Jess, why aren't you at Hartford already? Your test's in an hour!"

"Sorry mom, but it only takes like forty minutes to get there." Jess said with as much sarcasm as he could be bothered to exhibit on a day as cold as this. Good thing Luke was lending him his truck (which had a heater) as he knew he'd be an icicle long before he reached Hartford Community College in his pile of rust. By the time the inn was built he'd probably be able to afford a classier pile of rust, and that was a comforting thought. He signalled to his uncle that he was ready to leave, which got the keys thrown at him, and got outside before Lane began to hassle him about how many pens or pencils he had or how long division works.

He'd come a long way since the start of the summer, he supposed. Luke didn't even think he was going to run away with his truck, which was the ultimate sign of trust from his uncle. Little did he know that at the exact same time Luke was thinking the same thing, though there were a few more expletives and the repeated idea of 'I'm an idiot for this'. Not that Jess was planning to break that trust, especially not without a stable job and things with Rory the way they were.

_Good work Mariano, way to let yourself go down the path of Rory Gilmore. You know she's going to be on your mind the entire drive there now, if not the exam itself. _He laughed a bit at the mental image of Rory telling him how much more he should've studied for the 'defining moment of his life' as she'd definitely put it. But she wouldn't be telling him any such thing. In fact the two hadn't spoken since she spent the night, and that had been at least two months ago. It was mostly due to bad timing with her visits home tending to coincide with his extra-long work days with Tom and the boys, and Rory's schoolwork seemingly consumed her. It wasn't something he took personally though, as Lane had been expressing the same frustrations, though she at least got to serve Rory whenever she came into the diner. He was too busy busting his ass for an undetermined future.

Maybe Rory would come home for the holidays, and they'd get to talk. Perhaps she'd come back as her bubbly, confident (to a degree) self as opposed to the scared freshman he'd seen last time. There was even a slim chance that she would decide that a summer, fall and part of a winter was all she needed to 'grow up' and they'd be together again. That seemed ridiculous, and somehow borderline Disney. And that's where it all hit him so hard he nearly lost control of the truck which he'd somehow driven onto the highway.

This wasn't just about _her_ growing up. Not just an opportunity _she _needed to be apart. Of course it wasn't, otherwise he wouldn't have agreed so easily to the idea that they both take time to mature. Sure he was working hard and he was on his way to getting his GED, but that really wasn't enough for him. He didn't want to go to college, that was for sure, but regardless he understood for the first time since hopping on that bus to California the need to do _more_. The image of an unused paperweight came into his mind for some reason, but he supposed there would be time to figure out everything after he salvaged the results of flunking out by crushing the test that was supposed to be his entire high school education compressed to a few hours. Good thing he was smart.

* * *

><p>Jess decided to reward what he saw as complete domination of the GED test and decided he'd buy himself a book or something, sort of an early Christmas present. The streets of Hartford were good when it came to dusty-looking second hand book stores, but one small place drew his eyes for some reason. Upon getting closer he saw the sign read 'Just Another Hartford Bookshop', a name that made him smirk in a good way. He liked this place already and he hadn't even stepped foot in it yet. However when he did he understood the positive vibe coming from this place.<p>

It wasn't the most overcrowded of bookstores he'd visited, but it was packed full enough that he could spend the rest of the afternoon and well into the night browsing each section. The smell of fresh coffee directed his attention to a small bar in one of the corners, staffed by a tall blonde man that seemed to be surprised by Jess' entrance.

"Holy shit, Matt! Get your ass out here, we've got a customer!"

"You're joking! Is this like the last time you said 'we've got a customer' and it was a cockroach? Because the roaches don't count unless they buy something," Jess heard another male voice coming from what he assumed was the back room.

"No, this guy's real alright!" He turned his attention to Jess, a smile on his face "Now that I'm done being rude and horrible: hi, I'm Chris. My business associate Matt is off somewhere thinking up some new harebrained scheme to make this place work. Not that I'm complaining, I mean we get a lot of business from our online store… It'd just be cool to have an actual real person customer for once."

"I have to say I can't see why, if I worked somewhere with so many books I'd have the sign permanently on 'closed'." Jess answered honestly.

"We're the same. Actually we only open this place one or two days a week as it is, Matt's so into his writing and I've got Yale taking up most of my days. But, it's still fun to say you own a bookshop," Chris said, grinning carelessly. Though Jess didn't immediately like him, they seemed to be completely different people, he didn't seem all bad.

"So you guys are trust fund babies then?" Jess asked with his smirk in place. Chris just laughed at the wording, before nodding his head vigorously.

"Yeah, I am actually, but Matt isn't," He said, completely unoffended by a generally derogatory term.

"Damn straight I'm not, I've been working since I was fourteen to afford a place like this," Jess turned to see his first glimpse of Matt, and he instantly liked the look of the tall, black-haired man with thick glasses. "What's your name, stranger?"

"Jess."

"That's a girl's name!"

"Clearly not."

"Touché."

"I'm going to go look at books now, okay?" Jess said with slight exasperation in his voice. Though he enjoyed banter from time to time, he was wasting valuable sunlit hours in a bookstore not reading. It was heresy.

Two hours went past and Jess managed to find three books. One was a version of _The Old Man and the Sea_ that had seemingly been made for someone to write in the margins, they were so huge. The other two looked good despite the fact that he'd never heard of the authors, but he figured the two dollars they were charging would probably be worth it. Worst case scenario he'd give them to Rory once he finished scribbling insults to the writers and their mothers in any place he could. Walking up to the counter he saw on the way in he noticed the blonde man, Chris or something, had fallen asleep with a cup of coffee in his hands.

"No wonder you don't get much business here," Jess remarked loudly and dryly, snapping the man awake.

"Oh shit, sorry! I'm not normally like that, but exams… you know how it is, right?"

"Not really, but I have a friend that goes to Yale, so I could imagine."

"Do you reckon I'd know him, or her? I don't know many people, so I'm going to go with no."

"I doubt you would, she's not exactly the 'keg and party' type of girl," Jess agreed.

"He says with wistfulness in his eyes," Chris remarked with a laugh. Jess merely scowled, but denied nothing. "I like you, Jess. You're cool, and not in a poser type way. That's pretty rare."

"Offer him a job!" Matt yelled from his hiding spot again.

"I was going to, damn it! You like books… want to work here? We can't pay you much, but we'd really like to start opening on weekends…" Chris trailed off suggestively. Jess considered it for a moment. He'd bonded with these two guys more in ten minutes of talking than he had with most people he'd known for years. He supposed it couldn't hurt to take on a few more shifts.

"That'd be awesome, to be honest. When do you want me to start?"

"Tonight!" Matt yelled again.

"Matt, we talked about that! No one wants a bookstore open til midnight on a Friday night!"

"I could try it out," Jess said suddenly.

"Guess there's no harm in leaving our store in the hands of a perfect stranger until the middle of the night," Chris pondered with a shake of his head "Aw screw it, we're insured. I knew I liked you, Jess. This is awesome, my first night of winter break and I get to spend it free as a bird!"

After giving Jess a basic run of the place both Chris and Matt decided they wanted to spend the night at some movie marathon being held in someone's dorm room at Yale. For being free as a bird, Chris sure didn't want to leave that campus. Not that Jess blamed him, he'd seen the brochures, and minus the brain-numbing schoolwork the place seemed pretty awesome.

Now he had about six hours in a completely deserted bookshop that would probably remain so the entire time. And he was being _paid_ to do it. He'd found Wonka's Chocolate Factory and he was nowhere near as pious as one Charlie Bucket. After ringing Luke and telling him of the opportunity that had arrived (he seemed pleased, if not slightly pissed that Jess had his truck and he was going to have to drive Jess' car when he went shopping later that evening) he began to browse once more, looking closely at the books he'd ignored in his initial rush. His pen ready, he began to read an old favourite in Austen's 'Emma' and was just about to write something detrimental about the heroine when he heard the distinct sound of the door opening and closing.

"Hello? Is anybody here? The sign said 'open' so I thought it was okay if I just… Jess?" The extremely familiar voice echoed through the empty store, and Jess mentally shot himself for this coincidence. It was Friday night, this was Hartford, and Rory Gilmore had decided to come into this secluded little bookshop.

"Of all the bookshops in all the world…"

**A/N: Quick turnaround folks, I'm just finishing up another semester of Uni and this is keeping me distracted from a massive essay I'll be finishing tomorrow. Expect a lot in the next couple of weeks too, followed by me ignoring this in spectacular fashion. Well, hopefully not, but course work will have priority. **

**Next up is Christmas, Lane and maybe more Dean? Who knows? I yeah, I do!**

**I'm going to make a sign. On one side I shall have 'the end is nigh', the other 'please give me reviews. I like reviews. They're pretty'. Please don't make me turn into a crazy homeless sign lady.**


	5. Bonding: Part Two

**This took a heck of a lot longer than anticipated. The last few weeks have been nothing but finishing off a semester, job hunts and being super sick for the last week or so. But the other night I was watching **_**Parenthood**_** and Lauren Graham's character was crying, to which my response was 'oh no! Lorelai's sad! I should cheer her up… with Christmas!' I'm going fairly AU from here on, too. Stuff will still happen, but probably not in order. You can call it not being bothered to re-watch the show, but I'm calling it the Jess Relativity Theory. Everything changes around him.**

**Disclaimer: Sigh…**

Bonding Part II: A Very Gilmore Christmas

"Jess!" Rory exclaimed, practically running towards him and wrapping him up in a hug, a huge smile on her face. This was easily the happiest Jess had seen her in a while.

"Not last minute Christmas shopping are we, Gilmore? I assumed you'd be the type to buy everything in September."

"I do most of it in October, but that's not important. Do you know where the owners are? Chris was supposed to put some books away for me weeks ago, but every time I come here the store's closed!"

"Yeah, Chris said they weren't so good with the customer service side of running a store. That's why they hired me, because of my winning personality and all," Jess said snidely as the look on Rory's face went from frustration at the store's annoying hours to shock.

"You work here? Since when?"

"Since Chris and Matt offered me a job this afternoon."

"Wait, you got a job here _and_ got to meet the elusive Matt? You just gained about a thousand awesome points in my books."

"So that puts me at what, a few thousand points behind Lorelai and a hundred or so ahead of Naked Guy?"

"Marty? How do you know that sto- I'm going to kill my mother, I swear,"

"You have to admit it's a hilarious story."

"Not for him! I couldn't imagine what he'd think if he knew an entire small town in the middle of nowhere were talking about his drunken escapades!"

Jess could tell this story was making her feel awkward, so rather than laugh at her expense (to her face: he was only human, after all) he decided to swiftly change the subject onto much friendlier terms.

"You were saying something about having some books reserved?" He scurried towards the counter and found a thick brown package with the name 'Gilmore' scribbled in writing that he gathered was Matt's (don't ask him why, he just thought it looked like a writer's writing, if that made sense).

"Yay!" was all Rory exclaimed as Jess handed the books to her, as she clutched them to her chest protectively.

"Looking to smack someone over the head with them at your grandparents'?" Jess asked with a smirk.

"No, but now that you mention it I might just have to… oh, crap! Grandma doesn't like it when I'm late. She expects it from mom, but I have to be held under a different standard for some reason. But, it was good to see you, Jess. Really good. You had your GED today, didn't you?"

"Yep, and I nailed it."

"I bet you didn't even study!"

"I knew you would say that!"

"Sorry, I can't help it that I'm jealous that you're effortlessly smart while the rest of us have to put our noses to the proverbial grindstone to keep up," Rory said with a genuine smile. She looked so proud of him that it took all of his willpower (and probably some willpower that he'd borrowed off Luke or someone) not to push her up against the desk and kiss her senseless. He probably would've done so, if not for that revelation he'd had on his drive to Hartford.

"Now you're just sweet talking me because I have keys to a bookstore," Jess said, giving her a smirk for her troubles.

"You got me. Now I've really got to get going or mom will get there before me and mocking will ensue… I'll see you around though? At least for Christmas, anyway?" Rory added, and Jess couldn't help but notice the hopefulness in her voice.

"Course you will, how else can I give you your present?"

"You bought me a present?" she said, her eyes going wide with excitement as only an only child used to getting things can.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing," was his sarcastic response. After all, he didn't really need to tell her that this particular present had been bought months ago for her birthday, did he? It had been step one of an elaborate yet barely-sketched-out big romantic gesture. Unfortunately it had all crumbled apart… after he'd spent a pay check on her present, of course. The gift itself wasn't inherently romantic, so it would do as a suitable Christmas gift.

Rory merely giggled at his ridiculousness and waved goodbye, off to a night of dishes that he probably couldn't pronounce, let alone afford. He didn't let it bug him though; he was in a place full of books and little chance of anyone interrupting him again. Tonight was going to be considerably more fun for him than Rory, he decided.

* * *

><p>Jess woke up late the next day, just because he could. Luke wanted him to run the diner that night because of a date he had with his girlfriend, but that wouldn't be happening for hours. This was his first Saturday without daytime work, and he'd be damned if he didn't enjoy it.<p>

His plans to spend the daylight hours in bed were unfortunately ruined by the fact that he was hungry. Usually the fridge in the small apartment was decently full, but with Luke spending more time at Nicole's it had become woefully empty. This meant that if Jess wanted food, he'd have to get off his ass and go down to the diner. This was not a tantalising prospect, but it seemed to be the only one. Grumbling about neglect and responsibilities of a guardian (ignoring the fact that he was working three jobs and was an adult) he dressed and trudged down and sat at the counter.

"Hello, Jess," Lane said instantly, and her tone frightened him. She had the biggest smile on her face, which seemed to be saying 'I know something about you!'

"Hey Lane… if you're not too busy staring at me like a creeper could you order me up a grilled cheese?"

"Sure can, buddy!"

"Buddy? Why are acting like some kind of-" then it hit him in the face at about a hundred miles an hour "I'm guessing you talked to Rory?"

"I'm not going to say yes, but I'm not going to say no. All I'm going to say is… oh my god how did you two do any of this and not tell me? It was over two months ago!"

Jess snorted, "I can't speak for her, but could you honestly imagine you and me gossiping about my sex life? Having a slumber party with Hanson playing in the background?"

"Really? Hanson? You've known me how long, and you say _Hanson!_"

"Fine… Cyndi Lauper?"

"A guilty pleasure of mine, yes," She agreed reluctantly.

"Obviously, because girls _do_ just want to have fun,"

"Naturally… but you're getting me side-tracked here! How the hell did any of it happen? The last I knew Rory was pulling a Spiderman to your Mary-Jane and then you two are doing… those things!"

"Hey, it's not my fault that she walked in on me in my underwear and found me irresistible!"

"So it was really because of that? Wow. Look Jess, I've known Rory a long time, and believe me when I say that she doesn't do anything that momentous without thinking it through a thousand times over. The only reasonable answer is that she's crazy in love with you," Lane finished, her grin back in full form as she resisted making a squealing noise. It took a moment for it to sink in with him. He knew how he felt about her; it was the only thing he was certain about if he was honest with himself. He supposed that she liked him decently enough, but the last few months had eradicated all thoughts of _love _from her firmly from his mind.

"Lane, I'd like to talk to you about this burger, its angles are all wrong."

"In a minute Kirk!" Lane barked, before turning back to Jess with a smirk.

"I'm going to leave it at this, Jess: you're a lucky guy for catching her on laundry day."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Rory's underwear choices consist of simple or Hello Kitty. She only throws on the sexy stuff on laundry day," and with a wink, she turned and left him in order to deal with Kirk. He glanced down at the sandwich Caeser had brought him and grinned to himself. That was definitely something worth teasing her about. _Nonetheless_, he thought cheerfully, _god bless laundry day_.

* * *

><p>Christmas day dawned cold and snowy, as was traditional in this area of the country. Rory was easily as excited as she'd been every Christmas of her life, but that still paled in comparison to her mother, who lived for this time of year. Lorelai has run in to wake her at six in the morning, throwing candy canes from an unused box of them at her daughter until she agreed to get out of bed and open presents. Rory was grateful that it was only candy canes, not like the Great Coal-Fest of '97.<p>

"Mommy bought you pretty, shiny things, daughter! Don't give me that look, that's a look naughty daughters give to mean mommies."

"There are a dozen candy canes in my room, you are a mean mommy."

"But… it's Christmas! What's Christmas without me dragging your butt out of bed at the crack of dawn?"

"If such a Christmas exists, I don't want to know about it. Actually, scratch that, I'd like to marry that Christmas and live with it until I'm old and grey. That's the Christmas I want crying at my death bed."

"Hush, crazy, we've only got until nine to open everything and watch _it's a Wonderful Life _before Luke wants us at the diner for breakfast," Lorelai said as she hurried her daughter into the living room before running and sitting under the tree with the presents.

"I love Luke's Christmas Day pancakes. How did you manage to convince him to put red and green dye in them?" Rory asked as she carefully unwrapped her first present, which turned out to be a new diary for the coming year, courtesy of Paris.

"Feminine wiles," her mother replied simply, tearing at her wrappings with no abandon and revealing a pair of new shoes from her mother. "Ugh, they're so… practical," she said with disgust as she opened the box to reveal the leather shoes.

"I know, no lights or sparkles or anything!"

"She could've at least bought something with a ridiculously high heel… it's like she doesn't know me at all! What'd she get you?" Lorelai asked quizzically, noticing that Rory had opened her grandmother's rather large gift.

"A dress that probably cost as much as the jeep," she said as she pulled the silky blue outfit from the wrappings.

"Ooh, very pretty if you're planning on getting engaged any time soon. Which I would suggest holding off unless you're actually in a relationship, it works better that way for some reason."

"It's not just an engagement dress, I could wear it to a wedding… of the royal family of Monaco or England or something equally as prestigious."

"Long story short, dear Emily bought you something ostentatious, and bought me some shoes to work in. Really feeling the love from my supposed mother," Lorelai said as they abandoned their other presents and worked their way through everything under the tree. Rory was now opening her present from her mother and was happy to see she'd gotten her a lava lamp and a cactus.

"I'm guessing these have some sort of story, don't they?" She asked happily, as she'd just discovered the lamp changed colours.

"Not really. When people think housewarmings, they think lava lamps and plants. Of course I'm a bit behind on the whole furnishing of your dorm considering my mother managed to get her claws in, but I figured you might like some more lightweight things to make your dorm a home."

"They're excellent mom. Really. Now how about we throw that movie in, maybe this time George will decide life isn't worth living."

"Such a morbid thought from someone so cute! Go clean up those candy canes so we can eat them… and get the bag of Skittles from the kitchen! And while you're at it make us some popcorn."

"Mom, it's not even seven. I don't even think the sun's out yet," Rory said incredulously.

"I should've never let you go to that fancy college; it's filled your head with madness! I have no daughter!"

"I'm going, I'm going!"

"Yay, I have a daughter again!"

* * *

><p>"Rory, can you please tell your mother that I'm not going to make the coloured pancakes?"<p>

"But Luke, you make them every year!"

Rory Gilmore loved her traditions. Her mother would ask for the special pancakes, Luke would deny her. She would beg, and plead, and flutter her eyelashes until he gave in. This was all going according to plan when an unexpected guest (at least for the Gilmores) showed up.

"Oh hey Nicole," Lorelai said evenly, smiling up at Luke's girlfriend.

"Hey Lorelai, I hope you guys don't mind if I'm here, Luke said you'd be okay with it and-"

"Of course! It's Christmas, the more the merrier. Speaking of which, where's your nephew at, Luke?"

"Jess? Asleep, I'm guessing. I asked if he wanted to join us last night but he grunted out a 'no', I believe." Luke answered as he plated up some eggs and bacon for Nicole, who sat tentatively across from Rory, who looked upset.

"Why isn't he eating with us? He did last year!" Rory asked, confused.

"Well hon, that probably had something to do with that fact that the two of you were dating at the time," Lorelai said as she consumed some bacon in record speed.

"You're welcome to go up and drag his butt out here if you like, Rory," Luke said as he mixed a batch of pancakes, reluctantly adding some green dye, which caused her mother to break out into applause. Rory, remembering the last time she went upstairs to get Jess, blushed heavily and shook her head in silence.

"What's that about my butt?" Asked the disembodied voice of Jess Mariano.

"We were talking about how Babette and Miss Patty were considering the best way to pinch it, actually," Lorelai said teasingly.

"Ugh, not around food the food Lorelai, I don't want to puke on it," Jess said with a scrunched up face, pulling a chair to sit at their table, his arm brushing against Rory's accidentally. Little did he know the jolt of electricity that caused for her, though she could certainly see that smirk of his clear in her head if he knew.

The morning was spent mostly throwing banter at one another, which Nicole respectfully stayed away from, though she couldn't contain her laughter when Lorelai told the story of Jess' first day working at the diner. Soon the plates were clean and Nicole had to go and visit her parents, while Lorelai needed to check to see if Sookie was still breathing despite trying to cook for a house full of people that night. Luke merely grunted and left the room and walked into the kitchen, so that left Rory and Jess as the last men standing.

"You know, I've been having Christmas breakfast here for years, and this is the first time Luke's had a girlfriend for it," Rory mused out loud.

"Yeah, did you see the look on your mom's face?" Jess replied with a face as though he was trying not to laugh.

"No, what was it?" _No, I was trying not to let you see me looking at you is more accurate_, Rory thought sadly.

"She was jealous. It's like Thanksgiving with Luke for her… it should just be you, her and him, maybe me, but definitely no other girls allowed. Plus it doesn't hurt that she's got all these feelings about him that she's in denial about," Jess said wisely.

"She does not have… does she?"

"And they say you're the smart one here,"

"I guess I just never thought about it… you might be onto something there. But it doesn't matter because Luke's with Nicole and mom's, well, not."

"Fair point. Now, on a scale of one to ten, how much are you trying to resist asking about the present I got you?"

"Honestly? Eleven, easily. I love presents!" Rory exclaimed, and had to stop herself from blushing when Jess grabbed her hand and pulled her upstairs. She wasn't really surprised that there was no tree, only pits of wrapping paper lying around the place. Rory picked up a brand new copy of _Hamlet_ and looked at him questioningly.

"My present from Luke. I don't have the heart to tell him I already have a copy. Though it shows he actually thought about what I wanted. Out of all the Shakespeare, _Hamlet _is easily my favourite."

"Yeah, he's good like that. Just don't mention unicorns or else all other presents are toast," She said giggling. Jess just shook his head at her and returned with a small package which had been wrapped in light purple paper. Rory took her time unwrapping it, which made Jess groan.

"I should've known you were one of _those _people," He whined, making her stop and smack him on the arm before going back to her present. She made a small gasping noise as she opened it to reveal a single sapphire on a silver chain. The necklace was pretty, not too showy but lovely. It was exactly like something she'd pick out herself to wear, and that fact made her feel very strongly towards the man next to her.

"Jess… I don't know what to say," She started weakly. She was expecting a book, or something useful, not something so… she didn't want to think romantic, but the word sprung up regardless.

"Try something like 'thanks Jess!' or maybe even 'what the hell is this crap, you idiot!' if you prefer," He said with his smirk that made Rory not even think about her next words.

"God I love you," the words were accompanied by a small gasp as she watched the smirk slide off his face. There were only two options here, as far as she was concerned. First, she could run out that door and hide herself in her room until her mother got home. Second…

Tired of thinking about the consequences, Rory lunged at Jess and kissed him with all her heart.


	6. Girls in Bikinis

**So it's time for Spring Break! Rory's going to be having some fun in this one! Not going to be the same as the show, because personally I think her experience was a little less 'Girls Gone Wild' and much more 'Girl Happy' (I had to Google what movie Elvis made that was spring break related, heh). I'm going to draw from my experience at Schoolies (the Aussie version of spring break, which you do straight after high school and it's awesome). Anyway, I'd just like to thank any reviewers or readers actually putting up with my story, it means a lot!**

**Disclaimer: Do you really think I'd be living with my parents if I wrote for Warner Bros? Yeah, that's what I thought. **

Girls in Bikinis…

Rory wasn't quite sure how Paris had convinced her that spring break was a good idea. She remembered the argument having something to do with being warm, but now that she could feel the heat of the Florida air she wasn't sure that was enough. Of course if she was back in her dorm, she'd remember that she liked having all of her toes, and warm was certainly good. Rationalising it like this made slightly more sense, but not enough to make sense of exactly why Paris Gellar of all people would want to spend her time with drunken idiots on a beach.

The instant they arrived to their hotel they were greeted with fruity-looking cocktails that probably contained enough sugar to power her mother for a day, so it was with slight trepidation that Rory took her first sip. It tasted delicious, not alcoholic-y at all. This was an odd thing in itself.

"I guess the alcohol content isn't too strong," Paris said, as though she was knowledgeable on these sorts of things. Rory nodded her head and took a larger gulp, the icy texture cooling her down (if you'd told her a few days ago that she'd want to cool down she would've laughed loudly in your face).

They spend the afternoon unpacking and drinking their mystery drinks, and slowly everything had become much less vibrant and much spinnier. They had drunk two of the drinks… though it might've been three, possibly four…

The next thing Rory remembers is doing tequila off some tan-looking boy's chest. Then everything becomes blurry up to the point where Madeline and Louise are there for some reason and they're kissing to get free drinks and it's working so Paris decides she wants to try it on Rory but she's not having any of it. Things start to slow down as she sobers up slightly, and they're sitting at some table talking. She likes this table and chair, it's keeping her from falling over and that's very considerate of it.

"So Rory, how's your boyfriend?" Madeline asks suddenly.

"Who, Jess?" She slurs in response.

"No, the tall one… Dean? Who's Jess?" Louise asks with too much interest in her eyes.

"Rory ditched Farmer John for James Dean last year, idiots," Paris said suddenly, her head resting against the table in defeat of the alcohol in her system.

"Leather jacket, rebel without a cause then, is he? Or did you guys break up?" One of the two asked, though Rory has no idea which one.

"Yeah, we did. But it's okay because we love each other and sometimes we fool around," She said with a grin.

"That doesn't sound like an ex to me," Louise said, the expert on such matters, "Have you guys done it yet?"

"What? No!"

"At least tell me you've gotten to third base!"

"Heh… maybe once or twice," Rory said sheepishly, her blush less prominent than it would be if she was sober.

"Look at that Madeline, little Mary's not so contrary anymore!"

"You know what you should do Rory? Call him!" Madeline exclaimed as though it was the best idea she'd ever come up with.

"I dunno… things didn't go down too well last time," Rory said sadly, her mind instantly flashing back to Christmas.

"_Wow," Rory said simply as she buttoned her jeans up, turning away from Jess to let him dress with some privacy. _

"_Yeah," Jess' monosyllabic response. Now fully dressed, he came up and hugged her from behind, his hands resting underneath her shirt on her stomach as his mouth was doing wonderful things to her neck. Rory turned to face him and pulled away from his ministrations while she still had the mind to do so. _

"_Jess, about all of this-"_

"_Rory, please don't tell me that you still need time, or whatever. These things keep happening for a reason! Isn't it enough proof that we work? We're good together, you and me,"_

"_Jess, I always knew _this _part of us worked," She said as she gestured to them and the now awfully messy bed of his, "it's the other parts that I need to be alone to figure out."_

"_Why can't we figure them out together?" Jess asked with a small, but forceful voice._

"_Because that's what I do! I do what mom wants me to do, what grandma says to do, what Dean says, what you say… I just want think for myself for once and I can't have you ruining that for me!" _

"_Well excuse me for ruining everything in the great Rory Gilmore plan," he spat in reply, turning away from her in anger._

"_Jess, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant…"_

"_This is your last chance, Rory. I'm sick of waiting on the sidelines for you to get your act together. For me, this is it. If you walk out that door I won't be waiting any longer. It's all or nothing right now," he said firmly, trying not to let his anger at this situation possibly ruin everything for them. He knew she didn't mean what she said, but still…_

_He wasn't exactly surprised when she walked out the door, tears in her eyes as a silent apology. _

"Earth to Rory!" Madeline said, making her jump.

"Okay, I'll call him. But give me that shot of vodka, I'm going to need some liquid courage," She swallowed the shot in one go, cringing horribly as the liquid burned its way down her throat. Pulling out her phone, she found Jess' cell number (he'd finally joined the 21st century) and hit dial. She was slightly surprised to hear his voicemail message, but considering that it was two in the morning…

"Hey, Jess, it's Rory…"

Rory learned her lesson about drinking when she woke up the next morning with a hangover from hell, and about four phone numbers scribbled on her arms. She stood up uneasily and saw that Paris seemed to be in a worse state than her, and was easily covered with at least ten phone numbers. She had a feeling that the blonde would act disgusted by this, but in the end would be pleased that so many drunken frat boys had taken a liking to her. Shaking her head slightly, Rory groaned at the dizziness this small action made her feel. Now she knew why her mother was such a crank after nights out with friends.

Stumbling into the bathroom, she gasped with horror as she saw two large, very conspicuous hickeys on either side of her neck. She'd brought no makeup with her, so she was stuck with these two badges of shame for the rest of their stay here.

"Gilmore, call Janet and Glenn, we're going home," Paris moaned from the other room.

"Damn straight we are!" Janet said as she ran into their hotel room, the picture of fitness and sobriety. "This place blows, if I'd have known spring break was nothing but drugs and drinking, I would never have come!"

"What did you think it was about, Janet?" Rory asked with a small smile on her face now that she'd found the Tylenol.

"I dunno… dancing?"

"Nice neck, Gilmore!"

"Hey if you think that's bad Paris, you better go look in the mirror."

"Mommy, never let me drink ever again!" Rory yelled into a seemingly empty house upon her arrival home.

"I'm in the kitchen, my dear delinquent daughter!" Was Lorelai's reply, which in itself was confusing. Why was she in the kitchen? That was not normal Lorelai behaviour (unless she was sorting through her magazine subscriptions or dishing out takeout). Fortunately it seemed that the plague of money woes seemed to be fading for her mother, as she was eating from a Chinese box and offered an eggroll to her daughter.

"Delinquent?"

"Underage drinking, you see. I can't believe you went on spring break and didn't tell me!"

"I figured I didn't have to… not living here and being an adult and all that," Rory mumbled through bites of chicken.

"You could've invited me!"

"You've got an inn opening in like a month!"

"It still doesn't hurt to be asked, missy! Also go put a jacket on, we're going to Luke's for pie and I'm not letting you out of the house with your arms covered in permanent marker and your neck looking like you just stepped out of some weird porno."

"Can't I just have a shower first?"

"And miss pie? Didn't you shower in Florida?"

"Yes, and at my dorm… and yet I can't clean off these numbers!" Rory was already reluctantly going into her room to grab something warm, when her eyes landed on the leather jacket sitting on a chair.

"He got a new one, since he figured you weren't parting with it," Lorelai said from the doorway, "and yes, I am currently resisting the urge to make kissy faces and high pitched versions of 'I love you Rory', 'I love you more, Jess'."

"I'm glad you're getting some self-control in your old age," Rory said with a smirk, deciding to wear the jacket in question only to be nearly overwhelmed with the scent of Jess. She'd had this jacket for months; surely it shouldn't still smell like him? Regardless of what this made her feel, Rory decided it was irrelevant. She was here to see her mother, bury herself into the warm of Luke's and eat some pie. There didn't need to be any involvement from one Jess Mariano.

That was of course until she made it to the diner and saw the man in question smirking at her from the corner, twirling his cell phone in his hands.

"Well, if it isn't my favourite drunk,"

"Oh crap."

**A/N: This was going to be a lot longer but I figured since I haven't posted in ages I'd give you the completed half and work on the rest soon. Reviews please! That's the entirety of the begging I will be doing.**


	7. Lorelai Can See His Face

**I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry! This was supposed to be up weeks ago but due to a malfunctioning of all my electronics it has been rewritten and finally completed! A slight warning for naughty language in this chapter, I plead the defence of drunken Rory being drunk. Also can I thank you all for your fantastic reviews (that I try to reply to, but if I haven't I'm sorry and I love you). Specific thanks go out to and Ara May who both pretty much reviewed every chapter in one big chunk and made writing this easier through being sick as well as laptop-related anger. **

**Disclaimer: Where I live is currently doing a Coke promotion and the bottles have people's names on them. I have one that has Jess on it. This is honestly the closest I have come to owning anything related to Gilmore Girls (beyond all seven seasons) and I kind of bought it because my name is Jess. So, yeah... this is awkward, huh? Still own nada!**

Lorelai Can See His Face

Fortunately for Rory Jess left it at his very ambiguous words and went upstairs, allowing her access to the pie that her mother had persuaded her would cure everything, both the hangover and the guilt. Not that her mother knew she had anything to be guilty for. As far as she knew Jess and Rory had broken up before Yale and their pants had been firmly on whenever they were together. It seemed that the mother and daughter who shared everything were keeping secrets, and this wasn't just confined to Rory alone.

Lorelai had been meaning to tell Rory about her new boyfriend, but things seemed to keep getting in the way... namely him being Richard Gilmore's business partner. Lorelai had no idea how her daughter would react to this, nor had she told anyone else in her life, including the man with a penchant for backwards caps who was coming to their table bearing pie and coffee. He was her personal angel, a Gabriel of the 21st century. She was about to tell him as much, jokingly of course, when she realised she was blushing and couldn't get the words out. _That _was certainly new. She'd joked about Luke being her hero on numerous occasions, and none of them had caused such a reaction to occur. She could see Luke was talking about something, he had his grumpy face on and Rory seemed to be reacting appropriately. Lorelai was too lost in thought to notice that the conversation had been directed to her.

"Can you believe it, Lorelai?"

"Uh... yes?"

"Really? Well if that's what you think then you can get your own damn coffee someplace else!" Luke slammed down the coffee pot and stormed upstairs, grumbling all the way.

"Mom!"

"What? What did I do?"

"Were you off in Candy Land during that conversation or something? Luke was ranting about finding a man's car at Nicole's place and asked you if you believed he was being irrational like Nicole said, and you agreed with her!"

"Wait, I agreed with Nicole over Luke? I was so not here for that!"

"You were right there! "

"To the untrained eye, I was here, but to those of us who- oh who am I kidding, I just made a cranky Luke even angrier! Did you hear him? It was totally his 'I'm throwing Jess out of the house' voice. You know, from when the car-"

"I'm well aware of the incident that caused angry Luke, yes. The important thing now is you go and apologise to Luke. What was so important it caused you to float off to Saturn like that anyway?"

"Oh," Lorelai felt the hint of that confusing blush fill her cheeks again "just some stuff about the inn. We're getting so close to the grand opening I can almost smell it! Are you bringing anyone with you for the test run?"

"Like who, my sexy Italian secret boyfriend Paolo?"

"I actually meant someone like Paris, but if Paolo is one of the owners of those hickeys I'd love to meet him!"

"Mom!"

"You left that one wide open missy! Anyway what I think you should do to earn your pie is go and talk to Luke for me."

"Why do I have to go and smooth things over? You were the one calling collect to a NASA space station! Besides I don't want to go up there... I may have kind of, well, called Jess while I was drunk," Rory hesitantly admitted to her mother, and it took all of Lorelai's willpower (and some she must've borrowed from Kirk or someone) not to laugh in her daughter's face. Sometimes they were so alike.

"Was it at like three in the morning? Did you say anything terrible? Oh, did you call him out on using too much gel in his hair?"

"Yes, it was late, and I have no idea what I said! It might've been horrible! Maybe he hates me even more!"

"Even more? Why would he hate you in the first place? Mutual breakup almost a year ago, remember, hon?"

"Uh, yeah, I just meant more than the probable zero that he did hate me. He doesn't hate me, right?"

Lorelai stared hard at her daughter, an adult in some ways but still so very young in many others. Here she was panicking over a boy she hadn't spent much time with in the last year and she was still convinced he'd hate her. Jess was feeling a lot of things about Rory, but hate definitely wasn't one of them. Lorelai saw the way he stared at her when she came in and spoke to Lane or herself, and the way his face would brighten instantly if she merely spoke to him. He certainly had it bad, but it was the polar opposite of hate. For the first time since they began to date Lorelai knew that Jess loved Rory, and she was happy about it. The months he had worked at the inn for her, minimum wage and sweating despite the cold, had changed her opinion on him drastically. Or perhaps it had been he who had changed, trying to be better for himself, or at least for the girl he was madly in love with. Lorelai knew she had to respect that, and she was unsurprised to find out that her and Jess could actually enjoy each other's company. Sure they'd never braid each other's hair or gossip about celebrities, but the connection was there. It just took him not being all over her daughter for her to see it.

"...Mom?" Rory insisted, clearly noticing her mother spacing out once more.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about Jess."

"Isn't he a little young for you? I know the whole older woman/younger man thing has been getting attention lately, but-"

"Hey, if we've learnt anything from Ashton and Demi we know it's a beautiful thing!"

"What's a beautiful thing?" ever the master of perfect timing, Jess had emerged from the apartment with a book in hand, his lips quirking up in amusement of the banter he knew he'd just interrupted.

"Mom was just telling me that she plans to seduce you or something," Rory said as she scooped a forkful of pie into her mouth, very proud of herself for only blushing a tiny bit.

"Huh. So I'm guessing you were about to break out some Demi Moore jokes?"

"Right you are, Ashton."

"Never call me that again."

"Why not?"

"The man's an idiot!"

"Really? I think he's pulling a Pamela Anderson. Or, if you prefer, a Jessica Simpson."

"Elaborate."

Lorelai left the two at that and ventured upstairs shaking her head with silent laughter. She knew she had to have her best apologetic face on however and she went for remorseful yet defiant, determined to tell Luke her side of the story but also to hear what was bugging him. She stopped short when she could hear him yelling into the phone.

"So you're telling me it was exactly what it looked like? Christ Nicole, I'm gone ten minutes and you screw some other guy behind my back! At least get the jerk out of the apartment for ten minutes so I can come and get my damn stuff!" a pause "You're damn right I'm serious! I'm getting in my truck now, he better be gone or so help me I'll..." but Lorelai was never going to know what Luke would do as he slammed the phone down and stormed to the apartment door.

"Luke! I'm sorry, I was coming up here to apologise and then I... I'm sorry?"

"Lorelai... I'm sorry for snapping at you. It just hasn't been a puppies and rainbows sort of day for me, as I'm guessing you know from what you heard just then," Luke replied gruffly, but with sincerity. He looked like he wanted to punch a wall and cry all at once, but it was as though he couldn't decide which one to try first.

"No need to feel sorry, as long as you let me drive you to Nicole's," Lorelai said, her chipper nature returning as soon as she realised Luke had finished yelling (at her at least). However she knew he was in no state to drive himself, and he obviously agreed as he reluctantly handed her his keys.

"Thanks Lorelai. You're a good friend, you know that?"

"When I'm not too busy spacing out thinking of boys? Yeah, I guess I sort of can be,"

"Boys huh?" Luke asked as they made their way to his car, clearly grateful for the change in conversation, "Anyone I know?"

"You've probably met them," Lorelai said with a small smile, her mind racing to figure out exactly what was going on within it.

* * *

><p>"In conclusion, it takes a genius to play an idiot," Rory said with finality, and Jess smirked.<p>

"You sure invested a lot of time into that argument, Rory. You're trying to stop both of us from thinking about that voicemail you left me, aren't you?"

"So I left you a voicemail, then?"

"You don't remember?"

"Pretty much everything from that night is a complete blank, yes," she conceded.

"Well come upstairs and I'll get my phone and maybe I'll let you listen to it."

"So that's your big plan, is it? Trying to lure me upstairs with promises of clearing my conscience?"

"If our recent history is anything to go by, it would be _you _luring _me _upstairs, Rory. I figure you don't want the entirety of Stars Hollow to hear your drunken rambling, and if I play it down hear Kirk will hear. And Kirk tells Babette, who tells Patty, who tells Taylor and before you know it we're both excommunicated from this asylum of a town."

"Point well made. Plus I'm guessing there's coffee upstairs?"

"But you just drank... yes, there's coffee upstairs."

Rory followed Jess behind the curtain and up the flight of stairs to the small apartment. Judging by the amount of Jess-related items covering both sides that Luke had been spending most of his time at Nicole's, and Rory wondered if he'd even slept here in the last week or two. Luke wasn't a neat freak by normal standards but he certainly wouldn't live in a place covered in books and clothes like this.

"Sorry for the mess, I've become a little too accustomed to Luke never being here," Jess said apologetically as he cleared the table for them to sit at. He grabbed two mugs and still-steaming pot and poured them some coffee, before making his way over to his bed to grab his phone. Rory removed her jacket out of instinct, not thinking for one of the core reasons for wearing it in the first place. She remembered fairly quickly when Jess turned to face her and his face showed hurt for a fraction of a second before changing back to one of neutral indifference.

"Jess-"

"Looks like you had fun. Weren't you only there for one day? Looks like you found a few nice boys to show you around the place," He said bitterly, his tone ruining his calm exterior.

"I was drunk, okay? I have no idea where the numbers came from, it was probably after Paris and I passed out at the beach, as for-"

"Are you kidding me? You passed out on the beach? On Spring Break? Do you have any idea how stupid that was? Anything could've happened to you!"

"I'm sorry Jess, I didn't realise I was doing something you wouldn't approve of! Should I ask your permission next time?" She yelled back sarcastically, her defence mechanism kicking in.

"I'm sorry for being worried about you!"

"Well don't be! I don't want you worrying about me, or trying to help me, or any of that crap. You're not my boyfriend!" They were both standing now, both fuming and their nerves on edge. A casual onlooker would have known they were angry, but they probably would also have caught the underlying sexual tension that hung low in the room, being dutifully ignored by both parties in order to be furious at the other.

"Then next time you're bored at three in the morning, or drunk, or horny, or whatever, don't goddamn call me and tell me you love me!"

This took the wind right out of Rory. She imagined she'd insulted him in the phone call, or maybe made some kind of suggestive comment. A declaration like this seemed way off base.

"What?"

"Just listen to the damn message," Jess said angrily, slamming his phone onto the table before leaving the apartment with a loud bang from the door. Rory sat still for a moment, slightly shell-shocked and altogether unprepared to hear what her drunken self had decided was a good idea. Conceding to herself that it was the only option, she was soon accessing his saved voicemails, and heard her own voice coming to her in all its slurring glory.

'_Hey, hey Jess! It's me, Rory! Are you asleep? Why would you be asleep, spring has sprung! Wake up and smell some flowers or something! Get that cute butt out of bed and into action! Your butt is pretty cute, you know. Not that I know much about butts, but I like yours, so it must be pretty good! But... heehee, I said butt again! Anyway, I was just calling because Madeline and Louise are here, and they think that I should talk to you. I like talking to you, so the peer pressure wasn't probably necessary. The vodka was, though. Oh, and tequila! No one ever told me tequila tastes like jalapenos! It's like a burning party of deliciousness. Sorry for rambling, but that's who I am. You love me for who I am, right? Because I do. Love you. For who you are. I love you, Jess. I love the way you have a book in your pocket all the time, like I have to take a big enough bag with me everywhere for one. I love that you don't like music just because it's unpopular, and you don't hate it if it's mainstream. I love your eyes, they're my favourite eyes. And you smirk... that smirk is amazing. And sexy. I'm probably the only girl in the world that gets turned on by a smirk. I love it when you kiss me and I can't breathe, or when I do that thing to you- you know what I mean- and you make these noises that make me want to say 'fuck it' oh wow, I just said that word... fuck it! Just fuck everything and... fuck you. Ha, that was wordplay! But anyway voicemail won't love me for this so... I love you. All of you, all the time. Even if I'm too scared, or trying to be my own person. I just-'_

It cut out abruptly, which Rory assumed meant she'd spoken for too long and the voicemail had cut her off. She tried to absorb everything said by herself that she had no memory of. All those things about books, and his smirk, they all hit too close to home. It was all too much and she was overwhelmed by tears.

* * *

><p>Jess was storming out with no regard for Kirk and his sandwich problem, or Lane (who was about to finish her shift) but he found the doorway was blocked by a suitcase and a short, blonde woman.<p>

"Jess! My baby boy!"

"Mom?"

**A/N: The plot thickens, and Liz is here! Hi Liz! Sure she's a few months later than canon, but there was no car for Jess to retrieve, and thus no Liz until closer to her wedding! I hope you all like Luke/Lorelai too. I also hope I spelt Lorelai's name right every time too, I'm on a computer that doesn't automatically recognise it as a name so I'm hoping I didn't type too fast or anything. **

**Reviews please, and this time I'm going to ask for some suggestions. I need a name for a female OC that will be coming soon(ish) and I was hoping to get some nice suggestions from you guys. I want it to be a name you don't like. Not a bad name, per se, just one that rubs you the wrong way. If anyone suggests Jessica I'll never speak to you again. Jessica is a perfectly lovely name and we don't get to choose our names so LEAVE ME ALONE! But yes, my favourite suggestion will make an appearance in a few chapters. **


	8. Weddings or Prom or Something

**Well this was sure a fun chapter. It got up to about 10,000 words and counting before I realised I was going to have to split it. This is what happens when I have a tiny computer that can't access the internet and nothing to do all long weekend except walk my dog and go to work at night. A special shoutout to my little brother who let me borrow his notebook computer thing while my laptop was off getting better, and also to (who I just realised spells colour with a 'u' and is therefore more awesome than ever) whose name doesn't seem to like getting mentioned in my A/N's and hopefully it shows up this time. **

**Disclaimer: I'm twenty years old. This means I was about ten when this show started. Probably not the work of some prodigal ten-year-old, is it? Owner of nothing.  
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Chapter 8: Weddings or Prom or Something.

Wiping the tears from her face Rory stood and attempted to make her way out of the apartment, only to nearly be bowled over by Lane.

"Rory? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I just barged in here without even knocking like I live here, which I totally don't anymore and you and Jess are probably... I'm sorry!"

"Lane, Jess and I are not doing anything... well besides my being an idiot and spawning yet another fight between us. He stormed out of here a while ago, he didn't want to... did you just say you used to live here?"

"Oh, did I? I meant like a metaphor, for the way I work in the diner and," Lane began lamely, but at the look on Rory's face she stopped, "just don't hate me for this, okay? My mom sort of threw me out after I snuck out to play a gig, and Jess offered me the couch in the apartment until I could find somewhere better. I didn't tell you because I thought you'd be mad at me for living with your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Fine, then the guy you're madly in love with! Picky with the labels, aren't we? The point is Luke was practically living at his girlfriend's apartment so it worked out well, and Jess can cook fries! And burgers! If my mother knew what I've been eating she'd let me move back home just so she could throw me out again!"

"So you're back at home now?"

"God no, I got a place with Zack and Bryan. It's tiny but I get my own room because I'm a girl so it works out okay. My mom even visited the other day! Sure she's pretending that the guys are both female, but it's a start to her accepting the real me, you know?"

"I'm glad; your contraband was getting too big for your closet. Do you want me to help you search for any missing things of yours up here while you help me dissect the stupid decision of leaving a drunken voicemail message for Jess while I was on spring break?"

"You got drunk? Drunk Rory called Jess? I told you there was something there... oh, there's my socks!"

The next few minutes were spent in silence as the girls recovered lost items strewn across the apartment, which culminated in listening to the very voicemail that had caused all the commotion. Lane had to stifle some giggles at the beginning but upon completion she realised why this was such a big deal to Rory. Lane had no idea that she had said these words to him before, so it was a little jarring, but not entirely surprising for her to hear Drunk Rory say she loved Jess' smirk, butt or books. Lane wasn't even going to try and come to terms with the language used, or the idea that Rory wanted to have sex with the guy she had been sharing a bathroom with for the past few weeks.

"Is it bad?" Rory finally asked to break the silence.

"Oh Rory," Lane said with sympathy, pulling her friend who was near tears yet again into a hug.

Meanwhile downstairs a very similar situation was occurring. Jess was currently close to being suffocated in a hug from his mother. She smelled like soap and perfume, which was a sign that things had been going well for her lately. Jess figured she was seeing some new guy who had caused her to see the light and become a better person. He'd be much more excited for her if it wasn't the thirtieth (or so, he had no idea how many men were around once he was shipped off here) time this had happened.

Some guys were better than others, buying Jess presents or taking him for ice cream. Of course those were few and far between. Most just had loud, obnoxious sex with his mother while he was in the next room watching cartoons, or got his mother addicted to some new thing it would take Jess forever to help her stop. That summed up the first eighteen years of his life pretty well, so he could be forgiven for being a sceptic. He trusted his mother's instincts about as much as he'd trust Luke to give ballet lessons. Only after that weird comparison did he actually start listening to his mom's ramblings about renaissance fairs and some T.J idiot who was now apparently 'The One'. Maybe it was in part due to his own flailing romantic life, but he didn't really want to hear about Liz and her new disposable One True Love.

"-And we're having the ceremony right here, in Stars Hollow! Isn't that exciting? I know that this town loves its weird festivals and parties so I figure a renaissance wedding will be absolutely perfect! T.J is just so excited to meet you, and Luke! Where is my big brother anyway?"

"What damn wedding are you talking about? Don't tell me this idiot proposed?" Jess snapped, regressing several years in the presence of the woman he'd taken care of since he was seven and understood what was going on, replacing Luke as the person to pick up the pieces that made Liz Danes.

"Isn't it wonderful? I can't believe it's this Saturday!"

"So you're telling me you're getting married and don't even give me a week's notice? Glad to see where I rank on your list, your own son below this B.J idiot you've shacked up with," Hands in pockets, head down in a disgruntled 'I hate the world and that means you' way, every part the Jess Mariano that arrived in Stars Hollow nearly three years ago.

"You're not happy for me?" Liz asked with her classic guilt-trip look, and Jess sighed. Unlike the boy that was shipped off to Luke, this Jess knew that he would have an ally in the diner owner to stop this wedding if necessary, if T.J was not up to the standards of the uncle/nephew duo. He had an idea, one that would pain him more than it would his potential stepfather, but it would determine the sort of man his mom had found.

"I can try, I guess. How about me and Luke throw him a bachelor party? Get to know the guy over a few beers, you know?"

"Oh honey, you're too young to drink... but sure, that sounds fun! Do you reckon Luke's girlfriend would wanna drum up a bachelorette party for me? What's her name again, Michelle or something?"

"Probably not, but I know someone who will love an excuse to party."

* * *

><p>Friday dawned warmer and more spring-like than ever, and Lorelai woke with purpose. Her inn was nearly finished, her daughter was nearly finished her first year of college and she was chief in charge of a bachelorette party being held that night. Until the other day she had never met Luke's allegedly flaky sister, but she found her bubbly and refreshing, not the problem child she was painted as. T.J seemed eccentric, but if he made her happy that was all that mattered, though Lorelai couldn't see what Liz obviously saw in the man. It was also the last day before Rory would return to Yale and face weeks of studying and finals, so she expected it to be a party for the record books.<p>

Ridding herself of the excitement of the night ahead, Lorelai braced herself for the day of ordering around and stress that was coming. At least Rory had agreed to accompany her to work after lunch, so she would have a small support system stopping her from pulling her hair out, or someone else's. With a smile and a cute skirt, she was ready for battle.

This couldn't be said for Rory, who was fast asleep well into the later part of the morning. She had nothing to do until after one, so turning off her alarm seemed like a logical idea the night before. The persistent rings of her phone eventually woke her up, only to be berated by Paris' demands of picking her up the next day at 10am sharp and not a moment later as they had a lot of studying to do that weekend. Rory was beginning to question her generous offer of driving Paris back to campus if this was the headache it was going to bring. However the conversation soon ended and Rory ate, showered, shrieked at how late she was and bolted towards Lane's new place. The two were supposed to hang out for a few hours before Rory headed to the Dragonfly, and she was majorly late.

"Guess what? Guess who just applied to Hartford Community College to start in the fall? Guess who is doing an associate degree majoring in music?" Lane began the moment she answered the door.

"I'm going to guess the very same girl who is blocking the view of her new home?"

"Yes!" Lane squealed, before grabbing Rory in a hug and jumping up and down excitedly. Rory squealed along with her.

The two talked about Lane's class options and Rory's electives the next year, the buzz of Lane finally getting to do a course she'd enjoy contagious. Zack entered and upon learning what had made the girls shrieking puddles of excitement gave Lane a long, almost-inappropriate hug. The two pulled apart and Rory could see that Lane was blushing. If she wasn't running late to meet her mother a conversation would certainly had occurred on the meaning of said hug. But unfortunately time was not on their side, and Rory said a quick goodbye to the two before heading towards the inn.

* * *

><p>Lorelai was surprisingly relaxed today. Everything was running smoothly around her. The place was almost completely painted and a bunch of the guys were hammering nails out the front on a surprisingly hot spring day. Lorelai liked it when the men hammered nails, or carried around the wood, or used most types of tools. Most of the tradesmen were under forty, and those who felt confident enough generally started taking their clothes off when the heat made it an option.<p>

Among the men working tirelessly she spotted Jess, and she waved. He saw her and acknowledged this before turning around and deciding to be every part the labourer and take his shirt off too. Of course this was in front of a surprised Rory holding bags and coffee from Luke's. Lorelai could practically feel the heat radiating off her daughter's face from her surveillance point at the front door. _There's a girl who's never seen a naked man before_, Lorelai thought with some relief. Of course her relief was naive, but she didn't need to know that. She decided it was probably time to come to her daughter's aid. After watching her squirm for a few minutes more, of course.

"So do you guys get more work done half naked or is it some kind of Village People type scenario?" Rory asked as soon as she felt like her voice wouldn't come out s a squeak. The tough work and heavy lifting had been very kind to his body, she decided. There were certainly new muscles, or at least bigger ones.

"We're about to do a rendition of 'Macho Man' so stick around," He replied with a smirk, "honestly it's hot, I'm hot and I'm about to go lift something that weighs about a hundred pounds so... yeah."

"So you didn't just decide to strip off because you saw me coming?"

"Whatever would give you that idea?"

"Probably the fact that you turned, saw me, said hi to my mom and whipped your shirt off!" Rory exclaimed.

"You're a regular Sherlock Holmes, you know that?"

"I've got the hat and everything."

"I'd like to see that."

"I bet you would."

"The coat as well. You could probably skip the rest of the clothes."

"Someone's sure changed their tune in the last few days," Rory said carefully, not sure whether or not to ruin their banter with a more serious topic. Jess however seemed to be in too good a mood to let it get to him.

"The tune's no good if no one blows it," Jess said with a wry smile and slightly cocked eyebrow. Rory went from light pink to a deep red and was about to retort when she was gratefully interrupted by her mother.

"Back to work, o servant of mine! I shall have ye sent to the stocks for cavorting with my fair maiden!" Lorelai mocked, and Jess merely saluted and walked off.

"Mom, you couldn't have come sooner?"

"I saw your face turn all kinds of pink and wanted to watch you suffer. Does that make me a bad parent?"

"Only if I was going pink from choking, or drowning. I think you're allowed to let me flail around with boys... do not say dirty or I swear your coffee's going to Tom!"

"Tom! Now there's one man I'm glad keeps his shirt on during the heavy lifting. Though now I can see the appeal of Jess for you, and here I was thinking it was just books and hair gel!"

"It's like you want me to make the Demi Moore jokes. You're forcing my hand!"

"If I have a million kids and still look as good as her, I'm okay with these comparisons,"

"I'll let Ashton know."

"Does your boyfriend hate it when you call him Ashton?"

"Mother..."

"Ooh or does he love it? Is it like some kind of weird roleplay thing you guys-"

"Mom!"

"Got it, no coffee for mommy if she makes smooching noises behind you and He-Man over there," Lorelai said as she snatched a bag and cup from Rory. The two sat and talked about the day's events, with Lorelai reacting accordingly to the news about Lane's plans. Talk soon shifted over to Liz's bachelorette party being held that night, and after Rory's assurance that the dance studio was perfect and strippers were not a necessity everything seemed completely planned. People who went to high school with Liz were coming, as were Lane and Rory.

"It's weird, helping plan a party for Jess' mom," Rory mused as she chewed on her burger.

"Because she's your future mother-in-law and you need to impress her?" Lorelai poked out her tongue at her daughter.

"You know it's not too late to take away the rest of your coffee," Rory warned, and they spent the rest of their meal in silence.

Rory was soon put to work painting the foyer with the supervision of one of the men working on the site. Rory wasn't exactly enjoying his type of supervision, as it mainly involved him putting his hands on her whenever he deemed necessary. He was your typical 'dropped out of school and lived in my parents basement until I got biceps' type labourer, which Rory had now realised was her least favourite kind. She was tolerant enough until she stood up on her tiptoes to reach a spot and he took it as an invitation to grab onto her ass. She turned around to give him a piece of her mind only to find Jess staring over his shoulder, his shirt back on and looking pissed.

"Hey Mitch, you were supposed to be taking your lunch break, remember? Go talk to Lorelai, I think she wanted you to grab some stuff for the guys when you went to get something to eat," Jess explained calmly but with a hint of menace, completely in control of the situation, "You mightn't want to bring up the way you were feeling up her _daughter _either."

"You're the boss' kid?" The Mitch fellow asked, to which Rory nodded. This made him vanish in a near instant. Jess rolled his eyes and grabbed the brush he left and began to paint alongside her.

"I was handling that myself, Jess," Rory said indignantly.

"From where I was it looked like he was handling you."

"Did you not see the look on my face? He was about to be a recipient of the withering stare,"

"Did you not see the look on his face? You were about to be a recipient of more than just an inappropriate hand,"

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Doing the whole overprotective thing. It makes you look like you're jealous or something," Rory said softly, the pink rising to her cheeks. This wasn't helped by Jess' face coming into close proximity of hers under the guise of reaching a tough spot to paint.

"Probably because I _am_ jealous. I'm insanely jealous of anyone who gets to touch you, Rory, and if this wall wasn't wet right now I'd definitely try and-"

"Jess," Rory said in a tone that was both warning and weary.

"What? I'm only saying the things we're both thinking. I want you so badly it hurts, and I have a sneaking suspicion that you feel the same way," He said before turning away to paint in an opposite direction. Rory followed his lead and began to paint away from him, only to be surprised by hands occupying the same place Mitch's had been moments earlier. There was no one around but the two of them, and Rory felt Jess' breath hot at her neck, "what, no withering stare? I guess you don't give that to guys you want to fuck," he all but growled before sucking lightly on her neck.

"Jess..." Rory said, though unfortunately for her it turned into more of a moan, "Don't be so crass."

"How about screw then? Or do you prefer the term 'making love'? Because I've always found that to be-"

"Jess! Stop it, please!" Rory found the strength to step away from him and turned with renewed vigour in her eyes "You hated me the other day, remember?"

"I've never hated you, it's just that I feel like I've given you all the time in the world to think about everything, to become your own person or whatever it is that you wanted, and you're still so frustrating!"

"You call this giving me my space? You go and do all these things to me and I can't think straight! I don't want my emotions thinking instead of my head, surely you can understand that," Rory pleaded.

"Don't think. Just once don't think, just do. You might be surprised with how good it feels... that was an unintentional double entendre, by the way."

"Jess-" Rory started, but Jess would never know what she was going to say as at that moment Lorelai walked into the room with a plate full of muffins.

"Sookie and Luke, together once more to bring you an assortment of gourmet muffins!" She declared. Jess just rolled his eyes but Rory grabbed two and handed one to him.

"Perfect, these will go deliciously with the painting I'm doing!" She said delightedly, and Jess merely grunted a thanks.

"Enjoy, children! Oh Rory, you need to do something about that hickey, honey. The one on the other side is practically gone, but that one looks brand new. How weird," Lorelai remarked as she removed her light scarf and covered her daughter's neck before leaving the room. Rory glared at Jess, who was doing his best to look as innocent as possible.

"You gave me a hickey?" She asked incredulously.

"Hey, if your mouth doesn't want to admit you want me I figure a part of your body should... well, a part that people can see, at least," He said with a self-satisfied grin "besides, this is payback for the ones you left on my chest at Christmas. I couldn't let Luke see me without a shirt for weeks." His smugness was stopped short in its tracks when Rory used her paintbrush on his nose, leaving a bright blue streak.

"Ha! You look like a Smurf!" Rory managed to gloat before Jess got to the skin just above her t-shirt, completely ruining Lorelai's scarf.

"Look who's talking, Smurfette."

* * *

><p>"Do you think the boys are having more fun than us?" Lorelai mused as she sipped on her glass of champagne, her shoes sitting next to her having been discarded a long time ago. Liz and all her friends were dancing around blind drunk on the other side of the studio, and Babette and Miss Patty seemed to be taking delight at giggling at some straws shaped like male genitalia. This left a table consisting of a very sober Rory (who was driving home the next day), a hesitantly drinking Lane (who was remembering Kyle's party) and Lorelai, who was just plain tired. She'd been working extra hours the last few weeks due to the inn being nearly ready, and it was finally starting to get to her. Nonetheless she was very pleased with her last-minute party planning, as everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves.<p>

"Hey Lorelai sweetie, thanks for the party!" Liz exclaimed as she stumbled over to their table before gratefully grabbing a seat.

"Aw don't mention it, I'm just glad you like it," Lorelai said genuinely, which earned her a hug from the intoxicated guest of honour.

"Look, I know I don't know you very well but I feel like we sort of have some cosmic connection, you know?"

"No, but go on."

"Well I'm sort of in need of a bridesmaid or two, all my girl friends from the fair circuit are doing the music or the pig spit so I was wondering if you wanted to do it. Oh and Rory too, I just feel like her and my Jess would look so cute together!" Liz said excitedly, and both Lane and Lorelai had to cover their snickering.

"I'd be honoured, Liz. But Rory's supposed to go back to school tomorrow morning,"

"But it's a Saturday! Surely you could just go back Sunday morning?" Liz asked Rory hopefully, using the same guilt trip face that had worked miracles on both Jess and Luke.

"Well I'd have to make a call to my friend, but I suppose I could-"

"Oh you're an angel! I knew you guys would be like this; Luke never did shut up about you two on the phone. It was always Lorelai this, Rory that, well until my Jess got himself a girlfriend that was going to Harvard! I can't for the life of me remember her name; do you know what happened to her?"

"Oh, I think she ended up going to Yale, didn't she Rory?" Lane asked with a smirk.

"Oh... yeah, that sounds about right."

"Wow, I can't believe my boy dated an ivy-league girl! What school do you go to again Rory?"

Rory never got to answer as at that moment one of Liz's friends, Georgia or Melanie or someone decided the girls were going to a strip club. A chorus of cheers went up from all involved (including Patty and Babette) and they all began to leave the room in search of a car to transport them to wherever it was they were going. Liz smiled apologetically before letting out a loud whoop and following the revellers.

"Do you think it'll be ladies night where they're going?" Lorelai mused.

"I honestly don't think most of them care at the point," Rory remarked. With a sigh the three moved from their table and found their way to their respective homes.

Within moments the Gilmore house was filled with silence as both women thought about how pathetic they were, home on a Friday night before ten. Rory made to move to turn on the TV only to discover that nothing but bad reality shows and documentaries were showing. Frustrated, she switched it off almost instantly and the two just stared at each other. Their reflecting was interrupted by a knock at the door. Lorelai moved from her spot on the couch to answer it, only to be met by a nervous looking Jason.

"Lorelai, can I come in?"

"Probably not, Rory's home and you know she doesn't know about-"

"That's why I'm here. It's bad Lorelai, it's really bad. There's this thing with my dad suing us and now your parents know that we've been seeing each other so you'll be getting a call about that in the morning. I didn't want to even think about this, but... I don't want a relationship with so much stress attached. Stress and secrets, it's all it seems to be."

"So, you're... breaking up with me? Because... well I'm not really sure why but if you think I'm stressful or whatever then-"

"Lorelai, that's not what I meant. Look, let me start over,"

"Start over your breakup speech? I'd really rather you didn't. If I'm too much work for you, then... whatever." She said emphatically before closing the door in his face. She felt odd. It wasn't sadness for her relationship ending, but more frustration at herself for not being more upset about it.

"Mom? Was it the midnight Mormons?" Rory called out from her room.

"Something like that hon, go to bed and we'll talk in the morning!"

"We're seriously going to bed at ten on a Friday? What is wrong with us?"

"Believe me, I'm starting to wonder the same thing," Lorelai said quietly.

Suddenly an odd inspiration caught her. She had no idea why, or what even made her think of this, but soon she was rummaging around in the junk closet until she found her most bizarre midnight shopping network purchase. Even more shocking than her set of non-stick frypans which were sitting next to it gathering dust. She was the last person in the world to turn to self-help tapes, but maybe it was exactly the thing she needed to work out what was going on inside her head. Relationship drama she could deal with, but the lack of drama was making her turn to unusual sources. Grabbing the CDs, book and Rory's Discman she drew herself a bath and settled in to listen to a stranger try and cure her problems. Sometimes the most desperate options reap the best rewards, as Lorelai could now attest to. It was so obvious it made her cringe at the thought of not noticing it before.

Of course she was in love with Luke. It was so damn obvious that it hurt.

* * *

><p>Rory was driving with Paris in the passenger seat giving her a lecture for the fourth time this morning. When she called to tell her that she wasn't going home until Sunday Paris had screamed into the phone about responsibility and Asher's party being held on campus that she simply couldn't miss. So the plan had now been revised to dropping her off at their dorm, grabbing one of her dresses from her room (the ones at home were slightly too short after an apparent growth spurt in the last year) and coming home in time for a Nicholas Cage double feature with her mother before going to the wedding.<p>

Listening to Paris was first in Rory's several big mistakes of the day.

As soon as they arrived Rory was met by an odd sight and suddenly all of her plans went out the window with the appearance of Emily Gilmore standing near their dorm room.

"Rory! I knew you'd get here before midday, you're always so punctual, unlike your mother," She added bitterly, and Rory wondered what had happened since last night when they'd had dinner. Maybe it was due to their leaving early for Liz's party, though she couldn't be sure.

"Hi grandma, what are you doing here? Were we supposed to be having lunch?"

"No, no, I just had a bit of time before meeting up with Macy Stephens nearby so I thought I'd come and say hello, maybe grab a cup of coffee with you if you're not too busy?"

"Sure grandma, I was just going to grab a dress and go back to Stars Hollow, but I guess I can-"

"Oh would you look at the time! I guess I don't have time for that coffee after all. Now I feel so bad for leaving you, I wish I could make it up to you somehow," Emily paused, and Rory knew it was for dramatic effect. It looked like she was about to find out her grandmother's ulterior motive for the appearance today, "I know! Macy was supposed to be bringing her son Thomas along with her, he's at home from Brown for the weekend, but he would be so bored with us old ladies. Why don't I tell him to come and pay you a visit? You two will have so much in common, Macy tells me he plays water polo, isn't that exciting?"

"Grandma, is this your way of setting me up on a blind date with one of your friend's sons?"

"Of course not!" Emily smiled sheepishly, "Well, maybe a little. He's such a lovely young man Rory, just let him take you out tonight at about seven."

"I'm supposed to be going to a wedding tonight."

"Really? Is it anyone I know? It's not Sookie again is it, because this is even less notice than before and I-"

"No grandma, you don't know them. But it starts at six so..."

"That's okay, I completely understand. I'll have Thomas come and pick you up at one, okay? The two of you can go out for a nice lunch somewhere, it will be lovely!"

Rory thought about this for a moment, her desire to not be set up on a date with a guy she'd never met warring with the desire she always felt to make those around proud of her. She could probably eat lunch with this Thomas guy, leave on amicable terms and be back in time for City of Angels. There was really no harm in a simple date, she reasoned, it wasn't as though she was seeing anyone. If anything this would help in the process of becoming her own person, something she'd told Jess she was trying to achieve before they could be anything more than friends.

"Sure grandma, I guess I can spend an hour in a cafe with this Thomas guy,"

This was Rory's second huge mistake.

As it turns out Thomas (or T-dog, as his frat buddies were calling him) had an entire day of drinking planned with his friends, but allowed Rory to tag along as his mother had threatened to kill him if he didn't. This left the question that if he had indeed planned to spend the entire day drinking before their scheduled date, what would he have been like at seven that night? Rory was glad she was never going to find out as sitting in a dingy bar watching the boys do shots was bad enough. She sat alone at their table, admonishing herself for not having enough sense to grab a book before leaving her dorm. She was startled out of her reverie when Thomas approached her table.

"The guys and I are going to this topless bar a few streets over, you want in?" He slurred.

"Ew... I mean no, no thanks."

"Suit yourself. See you around, Courtney!"

"It's Rory!" She called out after him, before having a sinking feeling in her gut.

Ladies and gentlemen, Rory Gilmore's third giant mistake of the day, being stuck at a bar with no way home!

There was only one number she could think of dialling, and she was grateful that he managed to pick up almost immediately.

"Rory?"

"Hey Jess, a funny thing happened."

"God, you're not drunk again are you?"

"Me? No, but my blind date my grandmother set up sure was, as were his frat buddies. So now I'm stuck at some bar in Hartford with no way home, because you try finding a cab at three in the afternoon, it's sure as hell not easy,"

"Which bar is it?"

"Umm, I think it's called Rick's? Rocco's?"

"I bet it's Ricky's. Just stay there, I'm about to finish work at the bookstore so I'll come and get you, okay?"

"You're my hero!"

"Okay, but if you want me to grab a cape it'll take me longer."

* * *

><p>"-and then he was all, 'hey guys, this is Georgia, she'll be coming with us today because her grandma's rich'." Rory reflected angrily, the deliciousness of Ricky's food (on Thomas' bar tab) not easing her dislike of her most recent date.<p>

"Wow, the jerk didn't even get your name right?" Jess said incredulously between bites of his pasta.

"Not once! Georgia, Naomi, Sandra, Courtney, but not once did he call me Rory, even by accident. By the end I think I would've even accepted Tory!"

"Wait, you mean your name isn't Naomi? Aw man, that's awkward."

"You're an idiot."

"Seriously, now what am I going to do with my 'Naomi' tattoo?"

"Ha ha... hey, do you actually have any tattoos?"

"I've got two, actually."

"Ooh, show me!"

"Well there's one here," he said as he pulled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo of a star, "got it on my sixteenth birthday, it meant absolutely nothing and I'm definitely going to regret it one day. The other one's fairly new, but since I really don't feel like taking my clothes off in a dirty bar you're just going to have to be satisfied with the one."

"How have I never noticed this?" Rory mused as she lightly ran her fingers over the ink. Her touch caused Jess to shiver slightly, pulling her out of whatever she was thinking.

"Guess you're always too busy when I've got no clothes on," he smirked before being slapped on the arm by an indignant Rory, "sheesh, sorry. Ask a simple question, get a simple answer."

"Can you just drive me back to my dorm so I can grab some clothes and my car?"

"Leave the car at Yale; I've got work early tomorrow so we can carpool. Save some gas, carbon footprint and all that?"

"Fine, but I still need the clothes,"

"Then Yale-bound we shall be."

Here we have the beginning of Rory's fourth rather large error of the day. It wasn't letting Jess drive her to her dorm, as that resulted in a nice discussion about third-wave feminism that surprised Rory with the depth of subject knowledge Jess had. No, Rory's fourth mistake occurred when they arrived on campus and she told Jess to wait in the car as she'd only be a minute grabbing her overnight bag and whatever dress she was going to wear. This was massive mistake the fourth, because if Rory had thought Thomas and his drunken friends were bad, they were nothing compared to the intoxicated mess located out the front of her room.

"Dean? Why are you here? Also, why do you smell like beer?" Rory asked timidly, and drunken Dean Forrester turned his bleary eyes in her direction.

"Rory... can we talk?"

"Uh, sure... come inside, I'll grab you some water."

After grabbing them both bottles of water Rory sat on the sofa opposite the chair Dean was occupying and offered him one. He took it and gratefully downed half of it. She sipped silently, waiting for him to make his point.

"I made the biggest mistake of my life, Rory. I'm married, I'm married and I love you."

"Dean-"

"No, let me finish. Come with me. I can't stand to be around Lindsay anymore, I need to get out of this place. Look, you've got a bag packed, this is perfect! You're perfect." Dean rambled, and Rory was slightly frightened by the look in his eyes.

"I can't Dean. I've got finals coming up, I can't just leave everything behind to help you run away from your wife!" Rory shouted at the intoxicated man.

"Why not? You love me, I know you do. Tell me you don't love me, and I'm gone."

"I don't."

"You don't what?"

"I don't... love you."

"You don't mean that!"

"I do! I'm not going anywhere with you!" Rory said as tears threatened to fall, "I'm not! I'm not, I'm not, I'm not! Just leave!"

Dean blinked a little, then hesitantly began to make his way to her door, probably finally sobering up to realise what a mistake he'd just made. Rory, who at some point during that argument had stood up, collapsed back onto the sofa and finally succumb to tears.

Meanwhile Dean was stumbling through the very car park Jess was waiting impatiently for Rory in. He was just about to light up a cigarette when he saw the very familiar tall form. He knew he could only be there for one reason, and there were two courses of action Jess could take. The first would be satisfying but juvenile, so he ignored the urge to punch Dean and made his way follow the path Rory took to what he assumed was where she lived. The door was wide open and Rory sat with tears running down her face.

"What the fuck did he do to you?"

"Oh, Jess, I was just... Well I'm guessing you've seen Dean so there's no use defending him," She let out a watery chuckle, and explained to him what had happened. Jess' face managed to stay impassive the entire time, as he knew giving his very biased opinion on Dean was probably not the best idea. Instead he went for his second instinct and wrapped her up in a hug, feeling her sobbing onto his shoulder as he ran his fingers through her hair in a comforting manner.

He pulled away suddenly, and Rory was confused until he pulled her to her feet, a gesture that clearly told her that what's done is done, and they needed to try and put it past them. She smiled weakly at him before kissing him on the cheek once, twice, each time with more urgency and closeness to his mouth. Jess pulled her closer by the waist and they kissed, trying to express months of emotion into this simple gesture. It was Rory who gradually led them to the sofa and pushed Jess, coming down to straddle him in the process. Innocent kisses soon turned into more urgent touching, until Jess gently pushed Rory up and off of him.

"As much fun as I assure you I'm having, we really have a wedding to get to. Not to mention the fact that you're using me to get Dean off of your mind," Rory opened her mouth to reply, but Jess cut her off with a finger to her lips, "don't apologise, or explain. I was obviously not objecting, but it'd probably be best if these sorts of adventures didn't happen for a while, at least until you know what you want."

"You're not going to be made at me for being a-" Rory struggled to get the word out, so Jess helped her out.

"A tease? Nah, I think I'm finally getting this whole space thing you're trying out. Now go grab your stuff so I can be on time for my own mother's wedding, okay?"

Rory nodded and hurried off into her room. Jess just groaned and ran his hands through his hair. Though part of him was very much over this whole cat-and-mouse thing he and Rory had going, a large part of him was feeling both relieved and a little smug that, once more, she had chosen him over Dean.

* * *

><p>"By the power vested in me by the state of Connecticut and the Society of Renaissance Enactors, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Make with the kissing, already!"<p>

It had been a strange wedding to say the least. Fortunately (in the opinions of Jess, Rory, Lorelai and Luke) the couple had avoided any outdated or weird traditions that occurred before the beginning of the 20th century. Nonetheless there was a man playing a lute, and nearly everyone was wearing tights. Luke opted for the more modern day wedding look of a black suit with a nice red tie, while Jess had done the same minus the tie. Both Gilmores were currently sitting looking at how nicely the two men had scrubbed up, completely ignoring the food on their plates.

"What's the matter, honey?" Lorelai asked, gesturing to her daughter's apparent lack of appetite.

"I had a big lunch. How about you?"

"How about me? Well it's a good thing you're sitting down missy, but you still better brace yourself for this news."

"Oh my god, you're pregnant?"

"No! Why did your mind go to 'hey, she's not eating, she must be knocked up!'"

"You told me to brace myself. That was the most bracing thing I could think of!" Rory said defensively.

"Well it's not that. I... I think I'm in love with Luke."

"Oh."

"So this is where the wedding party gets shafted to, huh? Furthest away from the food, and good luck trying to see Lane's band playing from here," Luke grumbled as he took his seat next to Lorelai. Rory just looked at him as though they'd never met. She was seeing him in a completely new light. No longer was he Luke Danes, diner man and provider of coffee and unicorn figurines. He was Luke, potential boyfriend of Lorelai, the one man she wanted more than any other. Rory was surprised to see how well he suited that light, as though he was made for it.

"If you're trying for a staring contest with Luke he's not looking," Jess whispered to her.

"I know, it's just... well, I can't say. Not here."

"Lucky for us Liz and T.J have just finished waltzing. I'm guessing your fancy school taught you how to dance, right?"

"Are you seriously asking me to dance?" Rory asked him incredulously.

"Come on, you can think of it as me trying to make up for prom," persuasive as always, Jess got to his feet and offered her his hand. Shaking her head Rory stood up and took him up on his offer. At the very least it gave her mom and Luke a chance to be alone.

The fast song that had been playing post-waltz came to an end as they reached the dance floor near the gazebo, and it made way for a slower song that they could easily just sway to, her hands around his neck and his on her waist. If Rory closed her eyes it almost felt like she had been transported back a year and there had been no flunking out, no Kyle's party, and the two of them were at Stars Hollow High prom.

"I'm a terrible dancer," Rory muttered into his neck. She felt him shake with silent laughter.

"You're doing fine. Better than fine, you're actually making me _want_ to dance."

"You didn't want to dance with me?"

"We had to; it's like some kind of tradition. As is the bridesmaid and the best man doing it in the reception bathroom but since I figure that's not going to happen-" he was interrupted by Rory's light slap on the arm.

"Pig."

"Hey, I said it wasn't going to! But if you want to follow tradition I suppose we could sneak into the diner's apartment."

"If my mom has her way it'll be her and Luke... oh I don't even want to finish that sentence."

"That's what you were going to tell me, wasn't it? Lorelai finally saw that the man for her was the one with the coffee."

"It's really the only logical choice."

"So I'm guessing you're marrying the guy who runs that coffee cart at Yale?"

"Several proposals may have occurred, yes," they both laughed, "why can't we always be this, Jess? Why do we need to hurt each other and make each other sad? Why can't we just banter about nothing and watch movies like we used to?"

"No one's saying we can't, but you know even when we were just friends there were still all these unresolved feelings... well from my side at least," Jess said hesitantly.

"No, mine too." Rory assured him.

"We can't just be friends. It sucks but it's true."

"Can we be friends tonight?"

"We can try... can I tell you, as a friend, how sexy you look in that dress?"

"You like it?" Rory asked, gesturing to her knee-length bright blue halter top and smiling, "it was going to be my prom dress. Of course it wasn't as short as it now apparently is on me but I figured this was a good chance to wear it."

"It matches your eyes... God Rory, I'm so sorry about prom. I'm sorry about a lot of the things I put you through around then. You know I had a tux rented and everything? Dave and I had split the bill on a limo, and you're going to laugh at me for this but I'd even booked us a room at a hotel. It's not like I was expecting anything to happen, I knew a girl like you wouldn't really be into the cliché of sex on prom night, but I figured we could just watch bad movies and mock them. Order room service or make them get us candy, that sort of thing. The amount I screwed up by flunking out is ridiculous." He went to pull away from her at that point but she held on tight.

"That all sounds so amazing Jess, it really does. But you know what, screw it! Screw thinking of the past and past mistakes, there's nothing you can do about them. All that matters right now is that I'm here in my prom dress and you're standing there looking like you model for Armani and I'm every bit in love with you as I was before any of the crap between us happened."

"Armani's good, right?"

"Armani's very, very good," Rory said, her eyes darkening slightly as she looked him up and down, "go make sure mom's done something about Luke, I need to make a phone call."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I wonder what brilliant idea has struck Rory? Also, I hope you guys don't mind the gratuitous use of semi-naked Jess. We just didn't see enough provocatively dressed boys in the series, I'm afraid. Standby for the second part of this chapter that will be arriving in the next few days! And review, pretty please? Just help me pass the 40 mark by chapter 10? That is the goal and I'm going to have all the sexy men half-naked as a means to make it happen!**


	9. Don't Ever Look Back

**Here we go, kids! Another chapter of fun! Or at least, I hope it's fun. If any of you are into songs representing stories, this chapter goes pretty well with 'Teenage Dream'. Hate Katy Perry? Try the Glee version! Hate Darren Criss?**

I don't think we can be friends anymore.

Disclaimer: I own... umm...

Don't Ever Look Back

One awkward silent fifteen minute pause later Rory ran up to the table and found it odd that they were all avoiding looking at each other. She would've found this much more bizarre if she wasn't so busy running on excitement and anxiousness to talk to Jess. She gestured to him to follow her and he happily obliged, leaving the table of silence behind.

"What happened there?" Rory asked.

"I caught them in the middle of professing various love-related things to each other... you mightn't want to go home tonight,"

"How do you know they're not going to the diner?"

"God, maybe _I_ shouldn't go home either. We're orphans!"

"Street urchins!"

"Doomed to roam the streets in search of the warmth of a welcoming bed!" He stopped the dramatics in time to notice that they were walking away from the wedding reception "Uh Rory, where are we going?"

"Hop in," Rory announced as they arrived by his car.

"Really, you're telling me to get into my own car? What kind of kidnapping deal is this?"

"The kind where I stole your keys while we were dancing," Rory answered triumphantly, getting in the driver's side of the car and starting the engine, "seriously, you should get in or I'm leaving you behind."

Jess obliged and went around to the passenger's side. Soon they began driving, and before long they had left Stars Hollow completely.

"What's going on?" Jess turned to the backseat and saw Rory's overnight bag sitting there, "Why is your bag here? Why don't I get a bag?"

"Because I'm a girl and need pyjamas and you're a boy so you don't." Rory answered simply, facing ahead as she drove and paying him no more attention. Soon they pulled into a driveway, and Jess found himself face to face with a large hotel.

"You booked us a hotel room?" He asked in shock.

"Sure did. You owe me a prom night, so here we are."

"Huh."

The two made their way into the foyer where they were greeted by a harassed-looking receptionist who was obviously not pleased by having to stay back and accommodate the last-minute guests. Rory however took it all in stride and grabbed Jess' hand before approaching the desk.

"Hi there, I called a little while ago to book a room for Mr and Mrs Mariano," she said easily, and Jess nearly laughed at her nerve. In a little under an hour they were talking about being just friends, and now they were apparently married.

"Yes, I remember," the receptionist said bitterly, "here is your room card and I hope you have a wonderful honeymoon with us." Rory grabbed the card with her free hand (Jess was now carrying her luggage) and pulled him towards the elevator, where she swiped it to gain access to the floor on which the honeymoon suite was situated.

"So, we got married, huh?" Jess enquired as they were moving upward.

"What's the matter baby, do you want a divorce?" Rory asked with an over exaggerated frown, before Jess pulled her to him in a hug.

"From my crazy pretend wife? Never."

"Sorry, it just sort of came to me as I was making the call. Plus I've stayed in this honeymoon suite before and it's amazing," Rory said as the elevator stopped and let them out. She was right, of course. It was an enormous one room suite with a fireplace and a bed that took up half of the room. Out on the balcony Jess could see a hot tub with steam slowly drifting off its surface.

"You've had a fake honeymoon before?"

"One time when I was fifteen our house was getting fumigated, so mom decided that we'd come from our 'commitment ceremony' and they gave us this room!"

"They honestly believed it was okay for a fifteen year old to be up here with a thirty-something year old?"

"You're assuming they knew I was fifteen."

"Right, silly me. Anyway, since this is our apparent honeymoon I figure we better start it right," Jess said before lifting Rory into his arms in the traditional bridal carry. He carried her onto the bed and threw her onto it, sending her into a fit of giggles that were almost contagious.

"Oh look, champagne!" Rory exclaimed, pointing to the bottle sitting in a bucket of ice next to some chocolate dipped strawberries. Jess walked over and poured two glasses before handing one to her, clinking them together in a toast.

"To our happy fake life together, maybe?" He said as he sipped the bubbly liquid, his first drink of the night.

"Here's hoping the fake wedding was amazing, and the fake honeymoon even better," Rory agreed, drinking hers a little too quickly and trying not to cough it back up, which caused Jess to laugh at her.

"I forget how innocent you are sometimes," he smirked. Rory opened her mouth to retort but Jess silenced her with a kiss. It was short, chaste, but too wonderful for Rory to properly comprehend.

"Jess, can I ask you something stupid that you probably won't agree to?"

"If it involves eating those strawberries in the hot tub I'm already way ahead of you."

"That's not it, though we are definitely doing that. Can tonight... I don't want to be Jess and Rory, the two people who want to be together but can't. Let's be Rory and Jess, the people who are madly in love with each other and don't care who knows it."

"Just tonight, right?" He clarified, and Rory nodded. Jess thought about the idea, and considered saying no. This hesitation lasted merely a fraction of a second and before he knew it he was kissing her fiercely, determined to make this one night count.

* * *

><p>A while later the two were lying comfortably on top of the bed, Rory's head resting on Jess' chest, who had his arms around her almost protectively. Both still completely clothed with their shoes on, but altogether very content with the way they were feeling.<p>

"I don't want to move, but…" Rory began hesitantly.

"You want to get naked and do something you've only read about?" Jess enquired teasingly, but also with a bit of hope in his voice, which was stopped in its tracks when he felt her shaking her head.

"Actually I was going to suggest we try the hot tub and strawberries idea, but if that's too PG for you we could always go to sleep," she teased as she finally removed her shoes and snuggled into him. Jess sat up immediately and walked to the balcony door and stepped outside.

"Did you actually bring a swimsuit or are we skinny dipping tonight?" He asked her as she joined him on the balcony, the tub steaming nicely next to them. Rory decided not to answer and instead removed her dress revealing a black strapless bra with bright pink underwear that had a picture of a bunny smiling on the back. Jess just stared as she stepped into the warm water and splashed around a bit.

"It's basically a bikini," she justified simply, "well? You've got underwear on, right?"

"Well yeah, but I didn't get to bring anything else to wear," he reasoned as he ducked back inside to grab the strawberries.

"So? They'll dry."

"Not while I'm wearing them!"

"Didn't you say you slept naked?"

"What's with the sudden confidence? I mean, it's pretty hot, but very unlike you."

"I blame the champagne," Rory said, giggling a bit as Jess stripped off into his black boxers and stepped into the hot tub with her. An accidental brush of legs made the already underlying tension rise to prominence. A smile from Rory was all the warning Jess got as she sprung towards him and reached for the strawberries, nearly every inch of their skin touching as she waved the fruit in front of his face before eating it herself. She smirked at him and settled for kneeling on top of him, steadying by putting her arms around him as he watched her, fascinated by a part of her body that was rarely on show. Jess wasn't really a breast man, but he was by no means saying no to hers being very much in his face.

"Fruit tease," he said as he grabbed one from the bowl and placed it gently on her lips. Rory surprised him by having her tongue dart out and lick all of the chocolate off, "If you keep going like that you can have all the strawberries as long as I get to watch." Rory rolled her eyes at him before biting the strawberry in half, the juice running down her face and into a region Jess definitely wouldn't mind cleaning off with his own tongue.

"Do I really have to tell you that my eyes are up here?" Rory said with some exasperation in her voice.

"If you didn't want me to stare, you wouldn't have them at eye-level," he reasoned. Rory shut him up by shoving a strawberry in his mouth, and then proceeded to lick the chocolate from his lips. Jess responded with enthusiasm before deciding that there was no harm in trying to help with Rory's strawberry mess as he made his way down her neck towards her chest. This caused her to shriek a little and pull him closer as they both fell into the centre of the hot tub, making a splash that caused the bowl of strawberries to fall and break with a large crash.

"Oops," she said before attaching her lips firmly to his, their bodies entwining together as they exchanged wet, urgent kisses.

"Great, now my hair is going to have all these chemicals in it," Jess mumbled as his hands roamed below her waist, tugging to remove her underwear. Rory obliged him and moved to sit on his lap as he put his hands to work.

"Good thing there's a shower," she whispered into his ear before he made contact with a particularly sensitive spot causing her to make a small moaning noise.

"Mm…" he said absentmindedly as he put all his concentration into her. "Join me? For the sake of water conservation, clearly."

"Well if I guess it's for the environment…" she replied with a grin, stopping his ministrations and reaching around in the tub for her underwear.

"You're seriously going to put those back on? You're going to be naked in a minute anyway!"

"I'm not walking around without any underwear on!"

"Aw come on. If you want I'll close my eyes… though I can't make any promises not to peek." He added with a smirk that made Rory contemplate never wearing underwear again.

"It's going to be bad enough getting out of here in what I'm wearing," Rory muttered shyly.

"Don't think like that, Rory. You're so sexy, and I can't help that I want to stare at every bit of you for as long as possible. One night only, remember?"

Rory shook her head at him and left the tub, grabbing a nearby towel to dry off with. Eventually the two made their way inside and towards the bathroom, which housed a decent-sized shower and an enormous clawed bathtub. Jess pulled Rory close to him and removed her towel, pushing her against the glass of the shower and unfastening her bra with dexterity that only comes with practice. Soon the rest of their clothes joined it on the floor and they stepped into the shower. Thick steam filled the room as they both enjoyed the sensation of the clean, warm water as well as the touches from one another. He soon had her backed against yet another wall and was thoroughly enjoying ravaging her, to which she instinctively responded to by pulling him closer, closer than his self-control would prefer.

"Rory…" he groaned, "I think you're severely overestimating my control here."

"Maybe… we should just lose… control," she breathed. Jess used nearly every muscle in his body to move slightly away from her, one of his hands one her arm as the other cupped her face.

"Really? Here, against a wall? In a shower? Is this honestly how you imagined your first time?"

"Well, no…"

"Then no it is. I'm not going to screw this up for you. I don't care if it's tonight, a year from now or with some other guy, I want it to be perfect," he somehow managed to get out, though the direction of his blood flow was telling him otherwise.

Knowing that this renewed sense of chivalry would only last for a short time, Jess removed himself from the shower and found himself a towel. The sound of the water turning off signalled that Rory was following. The two dried themselves in silence, both considering the words that had been spoken. Jess was more focused on the fact that Rory all but consented and he had the willpower to say no, while Rory was mulling over the thought of what exactly she wanted when she lost her virginity.

"Jess," she began hesitantly, "what time do you start work tomorrow?"

"I don't… I lied so I could spend more time with you under the pretense of driving you back to campus. Why?"

"I was just thinking… I really don't need to go back until Monday."

"Are you saying you want to stay another night here? With me?" Jess asked hopefully, and Rory nodded her head to affirm this. Then she looked suddenly nervous.

"I was thinking, how about tonight? Here, in this hotel. In the bed, we could…" She trailed off, hoping Jess would understand her meaning without her having to say the word. Jess understood exactly what she meant, and his excitement was being met heavily with his moral conscience.

"Are you sure?"

"It's exactly what I want. You were right, it wasn't right in the shower. But this, you and me, it feels right tonight."

"Okay, but you have to actually say the word," he said, suddenly teasing, "I mean, what if you're talking about something completely different?"

"You just know I'm going to blush! Cruel boy," she complained, the pink tinge already lighting her cheeks, "fine, I think that we should have… sex tonight." She said, stumbling on the all-important word as her face flamed bright red. Clearly the effects of the champagne had long since worn off. However, in a moment of 'I can't be any more embarrassed' Rory decided to make the first move in the situation merely by dropping her towel, leaving her standing naked in front of a gawking Jess.

"You better stop with the initiative or we're not going to make it back to the bed," he remarked, before Rory raced off towards the king-sized mattress in question.

* * *

><p>"So… that was sex," Rory said afterwards, having returned to her earlier position with her head on Jess' chest, one of his arms wrapped around her as the other played absentmindedly with her hair. Except this time they were under the covers, both completely naked.<p>

"Jeez, no need to spare my feelings, Ror," Jess replied almost indignantly.

"What? Oh no, don't take it the wrong way! I was just… different to what I imagined."

"Again with the crushing of my ego."

"You were fine! Great, I guess. But you know how everyone tells you it's going to hurt? I assumed they were being melodramatic, so then when it actually happened it would be like nothing, but…" Rory moved around, wincing at the pain it caused. "See? Ouchy."

"You should've told me it was hurting, I could've-"

"You were really good, Jess. Everything you did was absolutely sweet and wonderful. Perfect, which I'm sure I'll remember that as soon as it doesn't hurt to sit up."

Rory silenced his protests with a kiss, and Jess responded without urgency, enjoying the feel of her lips on his. He stroked her face lovingly, enjoying the flushed sensation he'd caused, her damp hair a mixture of their shower and sweat. If Rory had looked in the mirror she would've been horrified to see her messed up hair and sweat-stained face, but Jess honestly could not imagine anyone looking so beautiful as she did right now.

"I never commented on your haircut, did I?" He asked sleepily, the feeling of comfort overwhelming the pins and needles in his arm that were being caused by Rory's weight.

"Nope," she replied easily.

"Looks nice."

"Better?"

"Nah."

"Sleepy…"

"Me too. If it helps, experience says you should feel better by morning. A bit stiff, but better."

"There's a 'dirty!' in there somewhere," Rory mumbled, and Jess chuckled slightly.

"Sleep now."

"Night Jess… love you."

"You too."

* * *

><p>"I can't believe they got us Oreos for breakfast," Rory said as she licked the inside of the cookie.<p>

"Any more than you couldn't believe the chocolate pancakes yesterday?"

It was Monday morning and Rory was packing the very few belongings she'd brought, which were all surprisingly spread out amongst the room considering how little of it she actually wore that weekend. It had been a whole day of nothing but eating junk food in an overly large bed while watching some epic black and white drama about a knight conquering an evil wizard, a huge bubble bath that fit two people almost comfortably, and lots of sex. Suddenly a frightening thought popped into her head.

"Does Luke know where you are?" Rory asked hesitantly. Just the night before she lied to her mother about getting an early start back at Yale, which somehow worked because her mother had stayed at Luke's after a long night talking (Lorelai had assured her that nothing happened, it was just really late so she slept on the couch) and her absence at home was not noticed. She had Lane, her co-conspirator in the entire hotel room idea, find a 'note' on the dining room table. This was all very well and good, but if Luke knew what was going on the entire thing would go up in smoke.

"I'm currently doing stocktake at the bookstore, and I've been sleeping there. You and I got into a huge fight and I'm trying to clear my head. The fact that I took no clothes with me doesn't seem to have occurred to him."

"You dropped me off at Yale though, right?"

"Where do you think we got into this fight?"

"So I used you for a ride home? That seems so unlike me!" Rory huffed.

"Let's not get into semantics of our fake fight, lest we ruin our fake honeymoon."

"Which was the best honeymoon ever, right? Big comfy bed, giant bathtub... everything you need for a magical night."

"I don't get the whole love of giant beds. Surely a honeymoon is about being as close as possible, right? Shouldn't the beds all be tinier? If I ever have a real honeymoon, it's going to feature a single bed. And no clothes. Ever." Jess said with a smirk, sending Rory into a place full of weddings and tiny cramped beds with Jess Mariano. She found herself not hating the idea at all.

"Right… well I've got class at eight but checkout isn't until twelve," Rory said with a grin, very much in charge as she pushed Jess back onto the bed and lowered herself on top of him. Jess' hands went to her waist and on reflex brought her closer to him, his hands roaming under the hem of her shirt.

"I like what you've got in mind, but you do have finals soon. Plus, your mom's sort of my boss."

"If we're quick you'll be there ten minutes late," she argued, beginning to unbutton his dress shirt.

"I guess I could always speed. With the car, I mean."

"That's the spirit!"

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry I'm late Lorelai," Jess said hurriedly as he found his tools for starting the day. The inn was about a fortnight from its test run and things were becoming more hectic but decidedly easier on the body. It was less about heavy lifting and more about polishing what was already there.<p>

"Jess! No problem, I actually wanted to talk to you, if that's okay?"

"Uh… I guess?" He said hesitantly as she guided him towards a quieter place to talk.

"You and Rory had a fight, huh?" She began with an air of sympathy.

"I'm guessing you spoke to Luke?"

"He didn't give much away, but I rang Rory last night and she didn't seem to be feeling exceptionally chatty. I'd blame it on stress but the girl sounded exhausted," Lorelai worried, and Jess was now struggling to keep a straight face, which from his track record was an oddity. He never gave in to bursts of laughter, but this was just too much.

"Really? Is she okay?"

"I'm more worried about you, to be honest. As much as I love my daughter, I feel like she's messing you around."

"I deserve it, after all the things I did last year… really, everything I've done since I came to this town." Jess admitted sullenly.

"You were, as the French say it, a 'Grade-A Dick'," Lorelai said with an awful French accent, "but you need to stop beating yourself up over it. All that's in the past, you've started making a new life for yourself. I'll admit I was Hypocrite of the Year when I heard you flunked out of high school, but look at you now! GED, three jobs, and applying for college!"

"Wait, how do you know about that?" Jess enquired, not altogether pleased with Lorelai knowing things about him that he never told her.

"I saw the application stuff the other night. Hartford Community College is great, Jess, and you're a smart kid so you'll pass it with flying colours. But about Rory… maybe you should stay away from her for a while? I'm not saying cross the street if you see her coming, but make yourself… I dunno, unavailable to her? Does that make any sense?"

"Way too much. Thanks, Lorelai… did you want me to feed the horses today?"

"Nah, we've got the groom in with them now. You could mow the lawn out back if you like, it's practically The Jungle Book out there."

* * *

><p><strong>And that concludes the 'THEY HAD SEX!' chapter. Sorry for the fade to black, but I'm terrible at writing those sorts of things. Basically read any first-time fic and you know what went down. Disappointed? Isn't that always the way? I didn't plan their first time like this, but when do those sorts of plans ever work? You plan for Jared Leto in a fancy penthouse apartment and end up with a friend in the middle of the day while trying not to alert your parents. Err, I mean... THEY JUST HAD SEX! Oh Lonely Island, you have a song for every occasion. Reviews please, I feel like I'm going to break the 4-0 with this chapter! Oh and in case you were wondering, Rory and Jess had a long debate as to who would pay the hotel bill, and they both relented in making it 5050. Just a little snippit that didn't make the cut. Thanks!**


	10. Big Girls Don't Cry

**So there is where the AU is going to get… well, super AU. I think that I might go with the idea of same characters, different situations. Because I don't want to break Richard and Emily up! Everything will be vaguely similar, and as much as I'd love to make it more close to the original text I'm going to be going off of 6-month old recollections and Wikipedia summaries. Sorry, but I don't have enough time to watch all the seasons again, as much as I really want to. **

**Speaking of which, I just watched 'Say Goodnight, Gracie' and I was an emotional wreck afterwards. Jess wasn't perfect here by any stretch of the imagination, but the whole thing was made so much worse by stupid, stupid, stupid Dean! He started that fight at the party! He put it in Rory's head that Jess was a bad boyfriend (he was going through so much stuff, poor kid). So I hope you enjoy my moderate torture of Dean in this chapter. I know I will.**

**Disclaimer: If I win this big lottery that's coming on Saturday, I'll fly over to the US and beg Amy Sherman-Palladino to make the Gilmore Girls movie, okay? Until then, I only own my contempt for Dean.**

Big Girls Don't Cry**  
><strong>

The day that seemingly refused to arrive was finally here. Pillows were fluffy, the beds made and comfortable (Lorelai took them all for a test drive) and the Dragonfly Inn was making its weekend trial run. This combined by the fact that Rory was due home from college later that day, and Luke had seemingly reciprocated her feelings, made Lorelai a very happy lady. So happy that she decided to give the remaining guys working on the site (basically it was Tom, Jess, a carpenter and an electrician) a bonus for sticking it through to the end.

"The four of you are the reason this place hasn't turned into something out of a Burton film, and for that I'll be grateful until I remember how much all this cost me and chase you all down for money!" Lorelai proclaimed at the end of the day, as her way of a wrapping up speech. Both the carpenter and the electrician looked terrified. Jess rolled his eyes at the two and shared a look with Tom that expressed their mutual dislike for people who… well, people in general, really.

"She's joking, guys. Lorelai thinks she's the Robin Williams of Stars Hollow," Jess explained.

"But with less drug addictions! But that's not the point of right now, is it? I'd like to formally offer all of you a room for the weekend so you could try everything out, if you want to stay of course," she finished with a warm smile.

Jess gave her a curt nod and made his way to leave. As grateful as he was to Lorelai for the job and all that, he really wasn't in the mood to spend his first free afternoon in months with the people he'd seen nearly every day that year. Part of him wanted to go up to Hartford and clock in a few hours at the bookstore, but Matt and Chris had decided to close the store for a month to enjoy a part of their summers with family and friends. Unlike the previous summer Jess was nowhere near broke so he took the news well enough, fairly excited to spend a few weeks catching up on reading and flipping a burger or two.

There was another thing he hoped would happen this summer, but he tried his hardest not to think about it. He knew Rory would be back for the summer later that day, but he still had no idea on whether or not they were going to start dating again. He'd taken Lorelai's advice and not called her, and the two times she'd rang him since that night of his mother's wedding he didn't pick up. She was surely too busy with finals and everything to care anyway, but he had to admit the distance from thinking about her was doing him good. Not to mention the large envelope that had arrived at the diner a week ago courtesy of Hartford Community College. He could still hear the squeals courtesy of Lane when she realised they were doing the same course (albeit a different major) and that they'd be carpooling together. Not that he minded her company: the music in the car would be bearable for both of them, at least.

"Watch where you're going!" A gruff voice alerted him to the fact that he was paying no attention to his surroundings. Out of all the people to bump into while zoning out, it had to be stupid goddamn Dean.

"Thanks for the warning, buddy! You going to be a good Boy Scout and help me cross the road?" Jess said with a smirk, watching the tall idiot's face go from grumpy to full-on angry giant.

"Always with the jokes, aren't you Mariano? Well you're the biggest joke of all. Why are you even still in this town? Nobody likes you. Don't you think it's kind of pathetic the way you're pining after her like this?" Dean practically spat, and Jess had to stop himself from laughing in the oversized boy's face.

"I'm pathetic? I'm not the one turning up at her dorm drunk out of my mind trying to get her to run away with me," Jess smirked as Dean's face flushed.

"How did you- did she tell you about that?"

"She didn't have to. I was there, watching your sorry ass stumble along in the parking lot. You made her cry, you know?"

"I bet you loved that, swooping in as the hero," Dean sneered.

"You could say I enjoyed some perks of being chivalrous. Though you were definitely the furthest thing from her mind that night, trust me," Jess said smugly, though instantly regretting his choice of words. He had nothing to prove to this man in front of him, and he was pretty sure Rory would kill him if Dean interpreted what he implied the right way. Unfortunately for him it seemed to click in the floppy-haired man's head.

"You guys didn't… Nah, you're just winding me up."

"Believe whatever you want, I don't care," Jess said dismissively, before deciding it would probably be too much fun to dig in a little deeper, "but it's true what they say, you know. It's always the quiet ones." With a well-aimed smirk at the dumbstruck Dean, Jess left him in search of a good book and the shade of a perfect reading tree.

** /won't let me do breaks so this is a break\**

Guests had started to arrive in their various forms, from Taylor grumbling about health code violations to Richard and Emily Gilmore staying rather quiet indeed. Rory had been excused from Friday night dinners for the last few weeks so she was unsure of why exactly there was unrest, but her mind didn't really think on it for long as Jess Mariano had just walked through the door. Instantly her stomach churned and she had no idea how to react. Questions sprung up instantly in her mind. Why hadn't he called her? Why didn't he answer her calls? Did he not want to speak to her? Why was he ignoring her right now? Couldn't he see that she was trying to get his attention?

The first few days after their weekend together Rory had felt wonderful. Sure she had to study like a crazy person but who cares, she had finally had sex and it was with a guy as amazing as Jess. She expected him to call her or something to catch up, but that call never came. That was when the nervousness set in. And as much as she was trying to not think about it, a niggling thought kept creeping up that maybe now that he'd gotten what he wanted, he wasn't interested any more.

Jess was standing at the opposite end of the room as Lorelai made her speech, pointedly avoiding eye contact with Rory. He was excited to talk to her, though. The news of his college acceptance letter would excite her to no end, and he couldn't wait to share it with her. But she had to approach him first. This was him taking Lorelai's advice, and who knew Rory better than her mother?

The crowd dispersed as they were given room keys and pamphlets on what to expect. Richard and Emily stayed looking slightly angry at both each other and their daughter, and Rory felt a large hand on her shoulder. Turning around she was faced with a grinning, and altogether sober Dean.

"Hey Rory, umm… Did you wanna take a walk?" He asked shyly, and Rory knew he was thinking about their previous meeting. She felt bad for him, and people did do stupid thing when they were drunk. She supposed a walk wouldn't be too bad.

"Mom wants me to grab some CD's from the house, it'd be good to have someone to carry them," she said with a grin, which in turn made his face light up. Jess was still in the corner trying to ignore this exchange and pretending that the whole thing didn't make his blood boil. When he saw them leave the inn he figured that followingthem in a minute or two wouldn't be the stupidest idea.

** /won't let me do breaks so this is a break\**

As they entered the house Dean hesitated. Their walk down had been full of inconsequential chattering and catching up, but he had a reason for wanting to get her alone. Two reasons, actually, but he figured the chivalrous one should probably go first.

"Look, Rory, about the other week… I was drunk out of my mind and I didn't really mean anything that I said. Hell, I don't even remember half of what I said," he began as they found all the CD's.

"Hey, we all do things we regret when we've been drinking, trust me. But thanks for clearing it up, it means a lot to me," she said with a small smile. Dean just looked down at her, drinking in the way that her blue eyes sparkled and the perfect fit of her jeans on her small curves. He may regret his actions, but his words were true. God, he did still love her! But something was nagging at his brain, something that he'd heard earlier that day.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's going on with you and Jess these days? Because I ran into him earlier and-" but he stopped when he realised that Rory was about to start crying. He stepped closer to her, closer than he'd been to her in far too long, and lightly touched her cheek.

Rory looked up into Dean's eyes, he entire being completely confused. Jess, ignoring her while here stood a man that had never hurt her, looking so trustworthy and kind that she didn't know what to feel. Dean decided he would use that confusion to his advantage, leaning in closer, his eyes never leaving her perfect lips. Rory was too dumbstruck to think about moving, but fortunately a loud cough from the open front door interrupted them.

"Oh hey, don't stop on my account. I'm just here for the CD's," Jess said in a strained attempt at nonchalance. Rory stiffened as she heard his voice, noticing the jealousy Dean was probably too thick to hear. She needed to speak to him, to try and figure out why the hell he was freezing her out.

"Dean, you should probably go," Rory said finally.

"What? No way am I leaving you here with him!"

"I said go!" Rory said forcefully, shocking the tall man with her control. She'd never demanded he do something, he was always the one leading her in their relationship, and she happily followed. Jess, on the other hand, had some pretty decent experience with her controlling side. It was a pleasant side effect of their more intimate encounters.

Giving one last death stare to the man who pretty much ruined his life with his charm and books and hair gel, Dean left the house.

"Can I ask what you were doing or is it safe to assume it was exactly what it looked like?" Jess asked snidely as he entered the house, taking Dean's place in front of Rory.

"So what if it was? It's none of your business," Rory began evenly.

"Let's ignore my part in this for a moment and focus on the one glaring obvious: he's _married_, Rory! What were you going to do? Kiss him? Go back to being Ken and Barbie like before I turned up in this town? Or maybe you were going to sleep with him, because that's-"

"You didn't call!" Rory interrupted his shaming, feeling like she wanted to slap him hard and cry all at once, "You didn't call me, or answer my calls, or try and see me! How do you think that made me feel?"

"I have no idea what you mean."

"I know it probably meant nothing to you, but that weekend changed me for the rest of my life! Then I don't hear from you, and you were ignoring me tonight… how do I know you didn't just use me?" Rory finally said, and Jess' face went from furious to shock in an instant. Though part of him wanted to laugh, this was just so ridiculous.

"You really think I would do that to you?" He asked incredulously.

"I don't know! But you hear about these things happening, and… I don't know. Why have you been ignoring me?"

"Let's just say I took some bad advice from a good source," he said with his small smirk emerging. Rory looked up at him, her doubts erased for the moment. She didn't even want to think about the stupid mistake she almost made for jumping to conclusions. Dean was in her past, and though she cherished the time they spent together it belonged to her sixteen year old self. She was almost twenty now, as was the man who stood before her. She was an adult capable of making adult decisions.

"Do you want to help me find the CD's?" She asked with a small smile. Jess just shook his head as he leaned towards her, lifting her chin up as his other hand went to her waist.

"I've got a whole lot of better ideas, most of which involve that tiny bed of yours."

"My bed really needs to lose its innocence."

"My point exactly."

** /won't let me do breaks so this is a break\**

"Rory should've been back by now," Lorelai said as she paced. Her parents were driving her crazy, so she needed something to focus on. Ever since her relationship with Jason had come out into the open she had been a pariah in their house, and she didn't think they would have the audacity to still show up to the inn opening with the way they'd been treating her. Yet here they were, as prim and proper as they needed to be. Luckily she had Luke to lean on, though she hoped by tonight they would actually start this kind-of-but-not relationship they had started at Liz' wedding.

"Knowing that kid she's probably testing them all to make sure they'll create the right atmosphere and ambience and whatever the hell the music is for," Luke replied gruffly. Lorelai grinned at him. With other men she always felt weird introducing them to Rory, but Luke was… Luke. He'd been there for the chicken pox, through first days of middle and high school, Christmases full of unicorn collectables. Luke was Luke, and that was perfect.

"Lorelai?" A voice questioned from the doorway. A voice Lorelai hoped she wouldn't have to hear again, who had turned up at her doorstep out of the blue and dumped her like yesterday's egg rolls.

"Jason? What the hell are you doing here?" Lorelai said in an accusatory tone. Of course he was here, just when she felt like Luke and her were about to take another step towards being together. Of course he was.

"I need to talk to you," he said, ignoring Luke as he made his way towards him. Luke had no idea who this guy was or why he wanted to speak to Lorelai, but a feeling of jealousy had set in.

"Really, why? Didn't you do enough talking when you broke up with me in the middle of the night? Haven't you talked enough to completely ruin whatever relationship I had with my parents?"

Then it all clicked in Luke's head. This was Jason Stiles, the man he'd heard Emily and Richard complaining about behind Lorelai's back. Something about a lawsuit and protection of a business was mentioned, but the part that was sticking in his head was that this was Lorelai's boyfriend. Well ex-boyfriend by the sounds of it, but still…

"I didn't want to break up with you, you know. It was all just so convoluted and I still have no idea what's going on, but the point is that there's no lawsuit anymore, so you and I could be… us, again."

Luke listened on intently as he waited to see how Lorelai would respond to that. Maybe this Jason guy was the love of her life and Luke would have to go back to being the man who served her coffee and nothing more. This didn't sit well with him at all. He saw her glance in his direction; saw her take note of the look on his face, and finally she spoke.

"There was never really an 'us' though, was there? Whether it was me hiding you from my parents, Rory, everyone or you giving up as soon as the road didn't look so good. You and I didn't work and I'm not interested in trying. Just leave, Jason."

"You're making a huge mistake, Lorelai. Just like your father's mistake. Tell Richard I'll see him in court."

And with that news, he left. Luke looked at Lorelai who looked neither sad nor stunned by the news of her father being sued by her ex.

"That man is the reason my parents hate me. They wouldn't believe that I didn't know about his idea to sue my father, like I would hide something like that from them! God Luke, I'm so sorry, I didn't-" but her apologies were broken off by the feel of Luke's lips on hers.

"You should probably go check on Rory," he said breathlessly.

"Yeah. Probably," she replied before bringing him back into a kiss.

** /won't let me do breaks so this is a break\**

"I don't care what you say, the sixth time is my favourite," Rory said with a sigh as she adjusted herself on the small mattress to get comfortable. Jess responded by bringing her closer to him, all their limbs entangled as they tried to make the tiny space work for them. It had been perfectly adequate for their previous activities, but afterwards…

"You've been keeping count?"

"You haven't?"

"Nah, kind of ruins the spontaneity of it all for me. You're right though, that was incredible."

"_You _were incredible," Rory corrected.

"You weren't half-bad yourself," Jess grinned.

"Jerk."

"Hey, save your name calling for when I screw up! Speaking of which, uh… I may have implied to Dean that we…" he trailed off, too content to finish a sentence.

"You told Dean we slept together! Why?"

"I kind of implied it, the kid must've gone up an IQ point or two since the last time I saw him because he certainly wasn't that clever the last time we met."

"I can't believe you did that! If I wasn't so comfortable right now I'd hit you and be really angry!"

He silenced their argument with a kiss, which Rory was happily reciprocating until she heard a bang from the front door, and footsteps. She jumped up in a flash, uncaring as to what parts of her Jess saw as she ran around trying to find her underwear and jeans.

"Rory?" Lorelai called out. This had Jess jump out of the bed as well, equally in a hurry to find his clothes. The two dressed in record time and had one moment to adjust their hair before stepping out into the kitchen and meeting a waiting Lorelai.

Lorelai didn't know what to expect when she entered her house. However a red-faced daughter coming out of her bedroom with an unapologetic-looking Jess was not one of them. Especially considering Rory had put her shirt on inside out, her hair was messed up and Jess had clearly forgotten to do up his fly. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had just happened. Nonetheless she turned to her daughter for an explanation.

"Uh… I should probably," Jess started before he realised that neither was paying him attention so he slipped out the back door.

"Mom," Rory began, but was cut off by her mother.

"Wow, this is just… wow. You and Jess… wow. This is huge, hon," Lorelai began lightly.

"Yeah it is, I guess. Don't worry though, we were safe and everything, and I've been on The Pill since the first time a few weeks ago,"

"Wait, this wasn't your first time? You and Jess… had sex weeks ago? And you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you!"

"Worry me? Why would I be worried? Just because my one and only daughter is having sex with a guy she isn't even dating, why on earth would that worry me?"

"See, this is why I didn't tell you!" Rory was starting to feel angry. Who was her mother to tell her who she could and couldn't be with?

"It was the night of Liz' wedding, wasn't it? God Rory, you didn't just forget to tell me, you flat out lied to me!"

"Oh, you mean like with you and Jason Stiles?"

"That's completely different… I'm the adult!"

"I'm an adult too!"

"You're my daughter!"

"So you told grandma all about Jason then?"

"That's… you and I are different to me and Emily. At least I thought we were."

"Well maybe we're not!" Rory fumed as she grabbed the box of CD's, "Here's your damn stuff! I'm going out, unless I have to clear it with you now because apparently I'm twelve years old!"

"I don't even want to look at you right now," Lorelai said with finality.

"The feeling's mutual."

**So hopefully that clears up Digger, Luke and all that. This is only half of what I almost have ready to post so the next bit should be up later tonight or early tomorrow. **

**As for the chapter title, go and watch Fergie's 'Big Girl's Don't Cry'. Go on, I'll wait here for you. Take your time. Watched it? Now you know the relevance to this chapter. Well, I hope so. I think every Jess fan should watch that clip. Sigh… he's so dreamy. **

**I'd love it if you reviewed because that would be cool. All the cool kids review. You want to be cool right?**


	11. If You're Gonna Quit Me

**So you may have noticed that the last few chapters have taken place over about a month and a lot of them over one week. This is going to change after this chapter because I'm going to skip the entire summer, then the pace is really picking up. I hope you guys enjoy what I have planned, because it will be deliciously angst ridden and fun! Also I'm starting a tradition of naming all my chapters after song titles/lyrics, which I actually started a few chapters ago but I'm acknowledging now. I recommend you check out the music video for the song 'Gypsy' by Shakira. It's a fun song and if you like staring at good-looking men (I know I do!) then you'll be pleased to hear it features the sexy Rafael Nadal. Yes, the tennis guy. **

**Disclaimer: I don't even own Rafael Nadal… life is cruel. **

If You're Gonna Quit Me

A lot of things in life were predictable. The weatherman, even if the weather did change at the drop of a hat, tended to be in the ballpark when he made his predictions. Luke's Sunday dinner of grilled salmon with a tossed salad. Even Jess had his moments of predictability, with his favourite types of books and music taste. Predictable was good, it was safe. Most of Jess' life had been unpredictable, but this didn't change the fact that he was terrified of Lorelai Gilmore's reaction to learning that he had deflowered her only child. He left in a hurry as soon as she'd arrived; feeling sort of bad for leaving Rory in the hornet's nest but his self-preservation instinct had set in.

Which is why he found himself sitting cross-legged in his room at the inn, reading _Crime and Punishment_. He was much less interested in pre-Russian Revolution literature than Rory but he knew he had to concentrate to know what was going on, so it didn't leave his mind time to wander. This was obviously not working because he hadn't read a damn word in 5 minutes. He was about to try and find his concentration again when he heard a soft knock at the door. Probably Kirk or someone, trying to get him to join them for whatever stupid activity was going on downstairs. But the thing about unpredictability is that it often brought very welcome surprises. Rory Gilmore standing at the door was definitely one of these.

"Hey stranger," he started warmly as he let her into the room. Rory didn't seem to be in the mood for niceties as she just groaned and threw herself onto the bed, which what looked like frustration.

"Please kill me now," Rory moaned into the pillow.

"I'm guessing things went well?" He smirked. Rory looked up at him with a roll of her eyes before crawling to the foot of the bed and grabbing onto his arms, pulling him down with her with one firm yank. The two made their way back to the head of the bed and Rory positioned them so that Jess' arm was around her and her head rest on his chest. She had decided this was her favourite position to cuddle in. Jess would be hesitant to agree due to the pins and needles it would cause in his arm, but having her in his arms in any form was pretty sweet.

"We got into a fight, it was horrible," she whined, trying to pull him as close as possible. He kissed the top of her head and considered this for a moment. Never had he known Rory and Lorelai to fight… at least not anything more substantial than who got to eat the last Pop Tart.

"Your mom thinks I'm that bad for you?"

"You didn't come up in the conversation much, actually. Though 'you guys aren't even dating!' was thrown out there. It was more about how I hadn't told her about it when it happened weeks ago."

"Yeah, I can see why that would upset her."

"Don't take her side in this!" Rory said indignantly as she made to move out of his embrace, but he just held her strongly and kissed her forehead, nose, and finally mouth.

"I'm not, silly girl. But you guys have this unnatural closeness… I guess you've peaked a bit late and this is your teenage angst coming through," he teased.

"Yeah, I don't know many girls who didn't hate their mom at some point in high school. Do you reckon it was stupid?"

"I reckon your mom just needs some time to get used to the idea and you'll be back to mocking bad movies together in no time."

"That's really insightful, Jess. I knew I liked you for some reason."

"Really? Only my insight? You don't like anything else about me?" He asked playfully, his hands already beginning the process of undoing her belt.

"Your taste in books is terrible," she replied coyly, her hands going to one of their favourite areas as they crept under his shirt and along his stomach.

"Nothing else?" his lips had begun to attack her neck, taking a moment to brand her where she hated it. She'd complain in the morning but always with a smile on her face. Never would she admit it, but she liked it when he got all possessive.

"Music taste… bearable," she said nonchalantly as she discarded his shirt and took in the view of his naked chest. He was ridiculously attractive and it made her feel a combination of arousal and self-consciousness. Jess seemed to be ignoring her staring at him as he was busying himself with the buttons of her blue shirt, before deciding they were too much effort and ripping them all at once, a feat that had Rory make a small noise as she noticed the almost predatory glint in his eyes.

"So I'm no good to you for anything, is that right?" He said as he finally had her jeans off and onto the floor. Her underwear for the day featured an array of pink and purple turtles, all wearing funny hats.

"I suppose you'll do," she said in an almost resigned voice before pulling at the belt on his jeans. He surprised her by rolling on top of her, pressing his skin into hers and finally their lips met, urgent and passionate as their need for more, more skin and more touching overwhelmed them.

Rory soon had him flipped to his back, the position in which it was easiest for him to remove her bra. Which he did with two fingers, enjoying showing off as he pulled her back towards him in search of new pieces of skin to explore, his tongue darting around at the newly exposed areas. Rory groaned and let him flip her back onto her back as he continued his ministrations with renewed vigour. His hands caressed the skin of her stomach before travelling lower, stroking her inner thighs with purpose before reaching his destination. Rory gasped as his fingers were replaced by his tongue, his breath hot as he showed off some more. She was on the verge of release when he slid back up her body and grinned ruthlessly.

"What were you saying?" He asked as his grin turned into his most devilish smirk.

"Tease!"

"Want me to go back down there?"

Rory shook her head no and made to unzip the fly of his jeans while he assisted her in their removal. Grinning evilly she considered doing a little teasing of her own before she found herself going weaker everywhere as his teeth bit lightly on her earlobe, almost completely unravelling her. His breath was hot on her as he breathed the word 'mine' though Rory was unsure if he was even consciously saying it of if she was even supposed to hear him. Regardless it motivated her to kiss him hard and begin a little exploring of her own.

"I reckon I know a way we can both get what we want," Rory said finally as she finished planting kisses on nearly every inch of his exposed skin.

"Doubt it, I very much want to continue with the down there part," he gestured a little making her laugh.

"Later. Right now I want you," she growled slightly, her nails digging into the skin of his back a little. The amount he loved provoking this animalistic controlling side of her was crazy.

"Guess I can't say no to that," he decided as together they removed the last obstacle in his underwear and he steadied himself on top of her, "seventh time lucky?"

* * *

><p>"You know if we keep doing this I'm going to start thinking you like me," Jess said some time later as they were both separate for the moment to get some air. Summertime wasn't the most wonderful time for body warmth, and both had forgotten to turn the air conditioner on.<p>

"Of course I like you," Rory said with a hint of exasperation.

"So I'm going to spell it out for you. You like me, I like you. I like specific parts of you that I only get to see when you take your clothes off for me," he heard her groan at his antics and continued, "Not to ruin a good thing, but do you really think you're not ready to be with me? You've obviously grown up enough to enjoy more 'adult' situations, so it doesn't seem completely unreasonable."

"You're right, it's not unreasonable…" Rory mused, before grinning widely. "If anything, it's downright logical. But you've gotta do better than that."

"What do you mean?"

"You're asking me out, right? This is your 'I want to be your boyfriend' speech, isn't it? Would it kill you to put some effort in?" Rory grinned on her side of the bed, tempted to turn around and see his reaction but also enjoying the bubbling sensation in her stomach that decided to wait to see what he had to say.

Jess had brought this conversation up with the tiniest flutter of hope, and now that feeling had erupted into a huge balloon of triumph. Now all he needed was the right words and everything would make sense. Pulling together all of his courage her pulled her so that they were practically nose to nose, so she would hear every word he had to say.

"Okay, work with me here because this is all improv. Rory, I don't need to go on like some babbling idiot about how much I love you and how you mean almost everything to me because you already know it, you've known it for almost a year and nothing has changed. Well that's not true, I've seen you naked now. I've got to watch your face as I made you lose control. And that's a pretty cool feeling, I've gotta admit. But what I want more than all the sex in the world is you. Just you. I don't care if we spend all our time completely naked in bed or if we're in spacesuits a foot apart at all times. Well, that's a lie, but you know what I mean. I want to be able to just be with you again, because I'm no longer the screwed up kid who turned up at his uncle's diner with a chip on his shoulder. I work hard, and I want to be the one for you. So, go out with me, won't you?"

"Wow… I'm impressed. Even the dirty parts sounded almost romantic."

"Those were my favourite bits. Is that a yes?"

Rory didn't answer him, but merely kissed him with all of her heart. Sure what he said wasn't the most eloquent thing she'd ever heard, but it came from the heart and she knew right then that this was exactly where she belonged. No more running, no more games. Just Rory and Jess being Rory and Jess, as they were meant to be.

"I love you so much," she replied finally, her hands stroking his hair lovingly.

"Always," he said simply, "We could shake on it, but I have a much better idea."

"Is it also a much dirtier idea?"

"You have such a one-track mind, Gilmore."

"It's your fault. You're so good at it, I'm addicted. You're my Harry Goldfarb."

"Cute and references 'Requiem for a Dream'. I think I've hit the jackpot."

"If that's what the kids are calling it these days," Rory said with a wicked smile as she decided to take initiative on the situation by straddling him, both still completely naked.

"Dirty woman."

"Horrible tease… you owe me!"

"That I do," he said with a mock salute before positioning himself between her legs, his tongue resuming its earlier duties.

* * *

><p>Early the next morning Rory woke feeling very content, warm and thirsty. Reaching for her clothes so she could go downstairs for some juice proved useless as Jess had completely destroyed most of the buttons on her brand new blue shirt. So it seemed one of the robes from the bathroom seemed to be her best bet until she could either make up with her mother and borrow something or force Jess to go to her house and grab her something to wear. The former was probably a better option because she didn't trust him to get anything appropriate to actually wear in front of other people.<p>

"Fluffy," Jess muttered sleepily from the vicinity of the bed, "running off already?"

"I'm just going to go downstairs for some juice… and coffee. Probably some leftovers too. You want anything?"

"I feel like if I answer that you're going to tell me I have a dirty mind," he replied as he sat up, giving Rory the perfect vantage point to crawl onto his lap and kiss him fiercely.

"Coffee and food first, then I'll see what I can do about the rest," she replied with a wink.

"You're not going to hate me if I go back to sleep, are you? I'm exhausted. Worked a full day building this damn inn and then some woman had to have her way with me."

"Go to sleep, Jess." She said with a roll of her eyes before he pulled her in for one last kiss, his hands idly moving to keep her closer, though his eyes were closed and he was seemingly a minute or two from being fully asleep.

"Love you," he muttered as she leapt off of him and he slid back into bed.

"Yeah, yeah," making sure the robe was fastened tightly she tiptoed into the corridor and downstairs towards the kitchen. Expecting it to be completely deserted this time in the morning Rory was shocked to find her mother there, already pouring a fresh cup of coffee. No words were spoken between them as Lorelai grabbed an extra mug as well as a few slices of cake and gestured for Rory to join her sitting down in the dining room.

"Have a nice night?" Lorelai asked as she took her first sip of the blend that was not quite as good as Luke's, but still pretty amazing.

"The rooms here are really nice," Rory answered evasively.

"Look hon, I think I might've been quick to judge a teensy bit last night. You're an adult and anything you do is you choice."

"I appreciate that, mom. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about everything sooner, but this whole thing with Jess has been so up in the air the last year or so, and then he doesn't talk to me for over a fortnight and it's just… yeah." Rory finished lamely, though Lorelai suddenly felt terrible.

"Oh god Rory, I'm so sorry! I told Jess to avoid you for a while, I didn't know that…"

"So you were the bad advice from a good source? You were the one messing in my personal life? I can't believe it! I was terrified that he had used me and here you are, being the puppet master!"

"I'm not the puppet master! I just made a suggestion that he acted on! God Rory, I didn't make him-"

"No you didn't, but you should've known he would trust you when it came to me. He thinks you and I know everything about each other, which might've been true once but it sure as hell hasn't applied lately! Oh god, I can't believe I nearly acted on that thing with Dean. The same Dean who turned up at my dorm the afternoon of Liz's wedding, blind drunk asking me to run away with him!"

Something suddenly clicked with Lorelai. She didn't want to lose her daughter, but on the other hand this secrets thing was getting them nowhere. It was time to come clean.

"I think I know why he did that. You've gotta believe me honey, I have no idea how he would react… but you know those self-help tapes that helped me make up my mind about Luke? I sort of, well… gave them to Dean."

"What?"

"I didn't know what he'd do, he just seemed so confused and worried and it seemed like he needed a helping hand, so I gave him the tapes."

"So, what you're saying is that every damn thing that has gone wrong for me in the last month or so has been your fault?"

"Rory, I-"

"Whatever. Just… whatever. I think I'm going to take up grandma's offer."

"The trip to Europe? Rory, sweetie, I-"

"I don't want to be around you, or near anywhere that you could be. The logical answer is Europe."

"Okay, fine. Ignore me all you want, I deserve it. And frankly you're pissing me off a lot right now. But what about Jess?"

"What about him?" Rory spat.

"Aren't you guys together now?"

"That's none of your business. I'm going to go pack, don't come near the house until the afternoon." Rory said with finality as she left the room, her cup of coffee and cake left untouched.

Climbing the stairs Rory began to sob softly, feeling horrible about everything. Worse than what had happened was what she was going to do. She was the worst human being imaginable for this but she couldn't think of an alternative. As much as she loved Jess, she really did, she couldn't be around him or anyone else for a while. She'd lied to him last night, there was no chance in hell she was ready for what he was offering. She wanted to be, more than anything else the idea of being with Jess made her heart swell and everything fall into place. But she still just wasn't ready. Collecting her clothes as silently as she could, Rory hesitated as she grabbed a pen and paper from the desk in the room. She owed him an explanation, at least.

With one last look at his sleeping form, Rory left the room and made her way towards her childhood home.

* * *

><p>Jess woke a few hours later feeling more content than he had in years. However this soon changed to confusion as he noticed it was nearly one in the afternoon and Rory was nowhere to be found. That's when he turned to find a note on the pillow next to him, labelled in her writing 'Jess'.<p>

He opened it and found only a few words:

'_I'm Sorry. I can't do this. I'm sorry'_

Some sick, horrible part of him wanted to laugh. He must've been a real bastard in a previous life to have all this bad karma, all this bullshit he'd put up with over the years. Before he realised it he was dressed and out the door, determined to find someone who would make sense of this.

"Have you seen Lorelai?" He asked the first person he saw, though he couldn't really see them.

"She and Luke went to open up the diner hours ago. Are you okay, sugar? You look-"

"I'm fine." Jess replied gruffly before leaving the inn and walking briskly towards town, his letter from Rory held firmly in his hand.

The atmosphere in the diner was subdued, as most of Stars Hollow's regulars were still enjoying lunch at the Dragonfly. Only a few tourists sat around being served by Luke, who looked up at Jess and his face changed from gruff indifference to one of almost concern.

"Have you seen Rory?" He asked his uncle. Luke scratched the back of his head thoughtfully, trying to think of the best way to approach this subject.

"She'd be at the airport by now, I'm guessing. Emily Gilmore doesn't mess around,"

"What?"

"Rory didn't tell you? I thought she would've, the way Lorelai was going on I assumed the two of you were… well, you were you guys again. She's spending the summer in Europe with Emily."

Lorelai walked in the diner at this moment, back from running around looking for some cheap bread to make some sandwiches for a few customers. She saw the look on both the nephew and uncle's faces and knew exactly what they were talking about. Jess turned to see her and held out something on a piece of paper. Lorelai read it and sighed.

"Oh Jess…"

Luke didn't like the look in his nephew's eyes, as it screamed of recklessness. He knew he needed to do something to occupy Jess that didn't involve Rory, and suddenly he had the perfect idea.

"Come with me."

"Why should I?"

Luke couldn't be bothered to listen to this adolescent moaning so he grabbed Jess by his shirt and pulled him out of the diner and towards Gypsy's mechanic shop. After a few words with her Luke received something in an envelope and steered Jess towards one of the garages to look inside. There stood an unimpressive but sturdy red car that shined from being rebuilt, remodelled and refurbished.

"This was going to be a birthday present, but I figure you want to get out of this town. This thing should get you to Jimmy's without a problem; unlike that other piece of junk you call a car."

"You bought me a car?" Jess asked incredulously, thoughts of Rory leaving his mind for the moment.

"Gypsy and I have been working on it since you got your GED. I've never really bought you anything and you're going to college soon and I don't want you breaking down with Lane in the care. I'd lose both of my wait staff."

Both weren't overly emotional people, but this was something. Jess nodded with all the respect he could muster, while Luke did the same. It was a Danes/Mariano equivalent of a hug.

"Thanks, Uncle Luke."

"Just be back before school starts, otherwise I'll reconsider this whole being related to you thing."

Luke handed Jess the envelope which contained registration and a set of keys. Just like one summer earlier it appeared that Jess was on his way to California. Only this time he knew he was coming back. Not for any girl, but for himself. He was going to make himself a better person regardless of how much his heart ached for the unattainable Rory Gilmore. It was a new start, and though it would take time he knew it would be worth it.

**/\/\/\**

**To anyone who was super happy about them finally being together... I'm so sorry! I was halfway through this chapter and considered changing the direction completely, but my story is going to go the way I've planned it, even if I don't want it to a little bit!**

**This is the part where I beg for reviews. But it's hot and horrible so I can't be bothered to beg. Put me out of my misery for this mid-Spring heatwave by brightening my spirits with a review? Thanks for reading!**


	12. That's One Thing We've Got

**My apologies for the time it took to finish this, but my laptop charger is currently smoking (I tried to get it to quit, or try the patches) and making a freaky static noise so it's out of commission. This week's song is 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' by the band Deep Blue Something, and is about the most mediocre and boring romance in history. The song's pretty cool though, so check it out. Or not, I get paid either way (and by paid I mean I get your lovely reviews... right?)**

**I'm considering doing a little 'missing moment' which focuses on Jess and Rory's summers, so if you'd be interested in reading that let me know. Probably would be in first person and different to how I usually write to shake things up.**

**Disclaimer: I own one thing in this chapter! One little thing. And it's mine! But nothing else is and that makes me sad. **

That's One Thing We've Got

There was a tangible change in the air as the new beginnings of late August emerged. The seasons were once again trading places, the warm summer air being replaced by small chills of autumn. The leaves were falling, school years beginning, lives altering for better or worse. It was a time for redemption for some, and condemnation for others.

Lorelai Gilmore had been waiting for this day for far too long. Her very recent relationship with Luke had been put on the back burner as he helped out his sister and her new husband after they broke several limbs between them, and her strained relationship with her daughter had turned into an estrangement of sorts. She had calls from her mother, with Emily never hesitant with niceties and stories of her and Rory's adventures. But today was going to change everything, with her homemade 'welcome home' sign and a huge serving of humble pie.

"Mom?" An inquisitive voice asked. Lorelai looked up to see her daughter looking at her as though trying to figure out if she was real. Then she broke out into the largest smile imaginable, "Mom!"

"Rory!"

It was like a scene from a romance movie, with the two running together to meet and hug each other senseless. Various promises and apologies were made and plans to spend a whole week doing nothing but watch Meg Ryan movies with an occasional break for Tom Hanks were settled. The entire drive home was full of vivid conversation filled with excitement, and the two were genuinely happy to be reunited. Though out of sight, their relationship had taken a beating, and there were cracks that hadn't been there before, that would make it easier to break again. But for now they were glued together and altogether very pleased.

"So Lane has basically worked there 27/7. And I helped," Lorelai said proudly.

"And by 'helped' you mean you took one order and made Lane give you free pie?"

"It was a lot more than one! But yes. This is what I do when I have no boyfriend or daughter, you see… I work two jobs!"

"So I get Luke running off and helping Liz, but what about… Jess?" Rory hesitated before she said the man's name, feeling horrible even thinking about him. Not that she'd stopped thinking about him since she left with her grandma, but being back near Stars Hollow made her visions and feelings about him much, much clearer. Lorelai frowned as she figured out the best way to say 'your ex has done a Kerouac because you broke his heart and we don't know when he'll be back but he'll probably resent you if he does indeed return'.

"Last I heard he was soaking up the rays at Venice Beach in sunny California."

"He went to visit his dad? Or is he," Rory didn't even want to finish her sentence, the idea that Jess was gone for good too horrible for her to dwell on.

"Visiting the infamous Jimmy Mariano is one of his many stops on his cross-country journey. Luke said he promised to be back before semester begins though and though I'm as surprised as anyone, the kid's turned out to be pretty trustworthy."

They were silent the rest of the way home, as though talking about Jess was the trigger Rory needed to remember all the horrible things that had happened at the beginning of summer. For the thousandth time she thought about what she was going to do, whether or not she could smooth everything over with Jess or if she'd have to learn to deal with her choices. She hoped it would be the former, and hopefully the Jess that had formed throughout the last year would give her the time she needed to explain herself. Not that she knew how to even begin that conversation.

"Trying to figure out what to say to him?" Lorelai correctly interpreted as they walked into the house with the first lot of Rory's luggage. Emily was having the rest delivered when it arrived in the next few days. As much as Lorelai wanted to mock her daughter for living the high life of staying in Europe, she figured the whole Jess thing probably needed to be addressed first. "Speak from the heart, babe. That's all I've got. Hope that you didn't break his heart."

"You saw him after… everything. Did he look, well, bad?"

Santa, the Easter Bunny, and now Lorelai's vivid memory of Jess' face looking like he had no idea what was going on, as though he'd lost his soul and his heart in some painful surgery and now just existed for no reason. Sure these images were melodramatic, but she had no intention of telling Rory about them. So a lie would suffice.

"He wasn't the happiest I've ever seen him, but there's definitely still a bridge worth mending there."

"Good… do you want Meg Ryan now or will Reese Witherspoon do for now?" Rory asked evasively, not ready in the slightest for any of this. Lorelai noticed her daughter's quick change of subject and decided to go along with it, their witty banter disguising the mutual worry and confusion about their respective romantic interests.

* * *

><p>"So do we have to sit at the counter now you're dating Luke? Do we get free food now you're dating Luke? Oh, do you think he'll give us his secret coffee mix to take home?"<p>

Rory had been suspiciously chatty all morning. Lorelai found her good mood enthusing as she was also very excited for today. Luke was finally coming home and they would start their actual phases of dating. Though they'd both admitted feelings for each other and had shared one very fantastic kiss, there were still the boundaries to be drawn as to what exactly they were. She hoped Luke wouldn't want something casual, because as far as she was concerned this was it for her. But she had no idea why Rory was suddenly so happy. The last week of bad chick flicks and junk food had featured the youngest Gilmore not exactly wallowing, though it wasn't very far from it. As much as she didn't want to burst the bubble her daughter had seemingly built, Lorelai was curious.

"Why so chipper today missy? Did you miss Luke as much as I did?"

"Yes! Without the dirty parts of course, but it's more than that… I think I know what I want to say to Jess."

"Oh," she considered whether or not to further prod to see if Rory's ideas were sufficient to win over the famously stubborn Jess Mariano. He'd stuck to the idea of him and Rory for an entire year and Lorelai had the strangest feeling that his attitude had shifted away from this. It only took one push for someone to be out of your reach forever, and Lorelai hoped Rory had been gentle when it came to that precipice.

However time for this discussion had ended as they had arrived at their destination of the diner. Lorelai beamed at the surly-looking, backwards cap-wearing, coffee-hating owner of the establishment who may just be the man of her dreams, and felt her heart flutter when he smirked up at her as they took a seat at a table.

"You two are the only ones who've decided to bother me today, so I'm going to go upstairs and clean. Jess called this morning and informed me of his imminent return, and there's no room for two people to exist up there. Tell Caeser to make whatever you want, okay?"

Rory was in shock processing this new information. Sure she had her speech to Jess all planned in her head, but she imagined there'd be time to write it all down, colour-code the most important factors, maybe practice in front of the mirror a few dozen times. Improvisation was not her forte, but seemingly it would have to do. Lorelai on the other hand was feeling very put out that Luke was treating them like he would any other customers that bugged him. Sure he didn't let just anyone give Caeser the orders, but some acknowledgment of what had happened between them would be nice.

"Thanks Luke," Lorelai managed.

"Don't worry about it," he hesitated before finding some courage tucked away somewhere, "Look this is going to sound corny or whatever, but do you want to go out to dinner tonight? I know this place and it's… good."

Lorelai had to stop herself from jumping up and down. It wasn't that he was ignoring what had gone on between them, he was just _nervous_. Nervous Luke was adorable and definitely impossible to turn down.

"Sounds amazing. Is seven good for you?"

"Seven's good."

"Good."

"Good."

"Good," Rory piped in.

"Good," Luke replied to Rory.

"Anyone else feel like we've done this before, but with a different word?" Lorelai mused.

"It's like our catchphrase!" Rory agreed.

"You're both insane. Enjoy your food," Luke said as he tried to hide a smile before heading upstairs. The two decided to take full advantage of Luke's generous offer and got Caeser to make them a variety of breakfast foods as well as a plate of fries and cherry pie, reasoning that it was practically fruit and it was never too early for fruit.

Very little food was consumed however, because in an instant Rory's entire outlook for the day changed with only the slamming of two car doors and a high, feminine laugh. Looking out the window to see an unfamiliar red car she thought nothing of it, as it was probably some couple returning from a summer away near a beach or something entirely clashing with the feel of Stars Hollow.

The girl herself seemed pretty, if you were into that sort of thing. Obviously dyed bright red hair that grew in waves down her back lower than her actual shirt, which was a midriff-baring leather jacket that probably had nothing on under it. She was sporting large black sunglasses and bright red lips, and looked like the incarnation of everything Taylor Doose hated with all his heart. She wore a black mini skirt accompanied by torn fishnets and boots that nearly reached her knees. Anywhere else she would've been a normal addition to a suburb or city street, but in Stars Hollow she seemed dangerous. Dangerous, and probably beautiful, if Rory gave it enough thought. She wasn't into the overly made-up look or the semi-goth fashion this girl seemed to have picked up, but it was obvious the man she was with found them very appealing. Rory could only see his sort of long hair tied back in a ponytail as he sucked face with this confusing addition to the streets of the small town. Then he turned around and everything turned upside down.

The red haired whore was making out with Jess.

If Rory hadn't known him so well or for so long she would've hesitated in knowing it was him. He'd grown his hair out, not shaven for at least a few weeks and was sporting a new tattoo on his right shoulder, which was visible due to his black sleeveless shirt. Despite his more rugged outward appearance, he appeared to be (Rory hated to think it, though she was barely thinking straight) in a pretty good mood. He grabbed the redhead by the hand and pulled her towards the diner, entering behind a few elderly people and a younger kid. He didn't even glance at the table Lorelai and Rory were sat at, both ignoring their food, too engrossed by the scene in front of them.

Luke had apparently seen the car turn up out front as he made his way to the front counter, sizing the two people up as he did, narrowing his eyes at Jess' new tattoo.

"When you said you'd be back soon, I figured you meant in a few hours. The place upstairs is a mess. Who's this?" Luke asked gruffly pointing to the woman, glancing over for a moment at Rory as he did so.

"Luke? Luke Danes? You don't recognise me?" The girl asked in what Rory decided was an annoyingly high-pitched voice, "Of course you don't recognise me, I left this place when I was a kid. It's me, Tiffany!"

"Tiffany... not Andrew's Tiffany?" Luke asked with a hint of shock in his eyes, to which she nodded enthusiastically, "Wow, you've grown up. What am I saying, of course you grew up, it's been like what, fifteen years since you and your mom skipped town?"

"Yeah, about that. It feels super weird being back in the Hollow, you know? Dad used to visit us out in Cali but this place _was _my childhood, you know? Like, I lived here for the first eight years of my life and here I am, back again due to fate or something, you know?"

"That was my next question, how did you find Jess?"

"He was crashing on the couch of my ex-boyfriend and as soon as he found out I was over twenty-one he latched onto me like a leech or something."

"I did not!"

"Whatever. You were desperate for booze." She joked before standing up on her tiptoes and planting a light kiss on his lips, apologies for her teasing.

"Huh. Look Luke, me and Tiff are gonna go see her dad, by which I mean she'll see her dad and I'll go look at books. Do you reckon the place will be clean by the time we get back?" Jess asked, straight to the point as always.

"Uh sure, I can't see why not. Be back before seven and I'll even let you work a shift," Luke added with what almost resembled a smile.

"You're kidding me! Don't tell me you got a life while I was gone,"

"He's hanging with the same old crowd, just this time with a suit and expectations because it's a date," Lorelai interjected as smoothly and normally as she could handle with her daughter nearly catatonic next to her. Jess turned and without hesitation Jess smirked at her, his eyes never once glancing towards Rory.

"You realise that just means he'll be undressing you with his eyes while you ramble now,"

"Wow, dirty!"

"Are you Luke's girlfriend? Oh my god, you're like, super pretty!" Tiffany interjected, walking up to the table which sat the mother and daughter. Rory looked up and saw this girl with too much makeup and eyes that were obviously vomit-coloured and instantly disliked her.

"Thanks! I'm Lorelai, and this is my daughter Rory."

"Shut up, she is so not your daughter! You look way young to have a daughter in high school."

"I'm in college, actually," Rory muttered through gritted teeth.

"Awesome! College is the best, I just graduated actually. Which is why I'm here visiting my dad... well that and because Jess is super hot! And smart too, what a weird combination!"

"It runs in the family," Lorelai managed to get out before Rory opened up her mouth, an emphasised her point by winking up at Luke, who seemed to be almost blushing.

"Aw you guys are like super cute! I better get going before Jess gets all grumpy. Once you promise him books you need to deliver, you know? It was nice meeting you Lorelai... oh and you too, Tory." Tiffany flounced away from the table towards Jess, who pulled her in by the waist and walked out back into the street.

Suddenly Rory felt like all eyes were on her. Sure it was only Luke's and her mother's, but she didn't know how to feel and they weren't helping.

"You and Jess have a terrible history when it comes to summer," Lorelai began hesitantly after a few moments, "remember the whole Shane fiasco following your trip to Washington?"

"He said he didn't want to pine for me or something," Rory remembered as she was reminded of the seething jealousy she would feel every time she saw him and the blonde bimbo together, and how strongly it was brought back again just moments ago, "Shane was different, though. I know he'd deny it, but he dated her to make me jealous."

"What's the difference then?"

"He isn't dating this girl to make me jealous. He's dating her because he's over me, or at least this is his way of trying to get over me."

"Oh hon, are you sure?"

"Positive. I guess the only thing I can do is try and get over him."

* * *

><p><strong>Remember how I asked for the names of a girl you hated? This is the payoff! I chose Tiffany because I'm not overly fond of the name either, plus it has a decent song for it so everything works out. I hope I made it clear that she's Andrew's daughter too, I was going to give her his last name but according to Wikipedia he doesn't have one!<strong>

**Review and let me know what you think of the Stars Hollow native turned Californian valley girl (of sorts).**


	13. We'll Never Ever Learn

**The story's moving along quite quickly now as I jump a lot in this chapter. For the second time in thirteen chapters it's Christmas! But who's under the mistletoe this year? I'm feeling sick and therefore prone to write angst, so sorry about that! Song of the chapter this week is 'Alibi' by 30 Seconds to Mars, which is pretty much my favourite song right now. Plus it's all about relationships ending and not learning from mistakes of the past (at least how I interpret it) so it fits in nicely. **

**Disclaimer: Yesterday I went shopping for a dress and bought fifteen books. Never in my life have I felt more like Rory Gilmore. And yet I still own nothing. **

We'll Never Ever Learn

"I'm scared!"

"You're an idiot! Just put the damn thing in reverse and call it a day. Jesus Lane, I've seen monkeys with better natural driving skills."

"This was your idea! I was fine with being driven around everywhere my entire life, but no, you had to be all… Jess-ish and make me drive you places!"

"Is Jess-ish an insult? Because that's kind of my name, so it stinks as one."

"Shut up, I'm under a lot of stress right now!"

"Look at this one of two ways: either I teach you to drive over Christmas or you have to wait in the car when I have a shift at the bookstore."

"I don't see why driving me home is so hard."

"Lane, I've been driving you to and from college for the last few months, and not once have I asked you for gas money or anything. Now I'm handing over the keys of my damn car and all you need to do is come and pick me up when I finish. College is in Hartford, I work in Hartford, and all this driving to Stars Hollow and back is killing me!"

"That was practically a monologue. What happened to monosyllabic Jess? I think I liked him more, he didn't make me drive."

"He died the day he realised you didn't know how to accelerate."

Lane just shook her head at him and tried turned the ignition on, deciding that hours of stupid driving lessons with Jess beat Zack's current fascination with bringing girls back to their apartment. At first she didn't notice with all the work she was doing at the diner mixed in with study for college, but when she returned home for the third night in a row to see a sock on the front door, she was pissed. Not that he knew why, because telling Zack that she liked him was a stupid idea. Their band was going great, Gil was a fantastic guitarist and she didn't want to spoil Hep Alien's vibe. The thoughts running through her head caused her to be angry in general, and this turned to the car as she smacked it a few times when it wouldn't start.

"Woah there, did my car insult your mother or something?"

"What?" Lane asked vaguely.

"You're beating on it like Liberace in the wrong part of town. This is something to do with Zack, doesn't it?"

"You mean Mr 'I don't have any consideration for my housemates because I want to screw some cheap girls'? No way."

"You're jealous." Jess said with a smirk, and Lane felt her face turn bright red. She thought she was hiding it so well!

"Whatever."

"Don't try and play this off so cool, you've been following him around like a lovesick puppy for ages! Probably the only person who hasn't noticed is Zack himself."

"It doesn't matter anyway, he wouldn't like me back or anything."

"A little unsolicited advice here: Zack is an idiot and he doesn't know what he wants. You'll have to practically rub his nose in something for him to notice it. So you're going to have to make the first move, which might seem stupid or daunting but if you like him… do it. And stop beating up my car!"

"I can't believe I'm taking advice from a guy who can't even keep a girlfriend."

"I have a girlfriend."

"Oh right, little miss 'I don't know how they put fillings into Pop Tarts but it's like, so totally cool'."

"Lane," Jess said warningly.

"What? Can't I think you're stupid if you're dating such an idiot when you're still in love with someone else?"

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"She's my best friend Jess, and she's such a stupid little girl for what she did to you! But then you hurt her with the whole Tiffany thing so she slept with Dean who had just separated from Lindsay and now she's all confused and I feel like I should hate you but I don't!"

A small twitch was all Jess let on that the news that Rory had screwed Dean had gotten to him. He didn't know that and Lane's blasé approach to revealing that information made him feel like he was the only one who didn't. Out of all the men in the world, she had to choose him. However he chose to ignore the feelings of hatred and disgust rumbling around him and turned to face Lane who was fiddling with the radio.

"Yeah, why don't you hate me? My free rides to college?"

"Nah, I could get Gil or Brian to drive me in a heartbeat. It's because we're friends, aren't we? We are, right?"

"It could be inferred by the amount of time we spend together not being totally unbearable that we have at least become used to each other."

"We're friends, and Rory's my best friend. So I'm Team Jess. You're the only person I know who is good enough for her and I'm right behind you with the pompoms and streamers."

"Maybe I don't want there to be a Team Jess option."

"That's a lie and you're dumb for even thinking it. Now are we going to burn rubber or what?"

* * *

><p>As it turns out, second year of college was even harder than the first, so Rory had decided to only spend two days with her mother over Christmas before getting back to studying. She kept telling herself that the reason she wanted to spend as little time in Stars Hollow had nothing to do with Jess and his trampy girlfriend, and she figured if she repeated it enough she'd actually believe it. Besides, she was spending Christmas Eve at Friday night dinner, so all was going pretty well when it came to avoiding Jess and Tiffany.<p>

"And have you seen her boobs? It's like she's shoved a watermelon down there!" Rory ranted as her and Lorelai drove towards the diner to pick up Luke. On the one hand she knew her daughter's ranting was probably self-destructive, but she was trying to stop thinking about the night she had ahead of her with Luke's first-ever Friday night dinner. On Christmas Eve, no less.

"Yeah, I never picked Jess to be a boob guy."

"Because he's not!"

"Thank goodness we haven't picked up Luke yet, because I think we just crossed over into 'creepy things I don't want to know about my daughter and Jess' sex life'. Poor guy would faint if he heard you say Jess didn't like boobs, or if he was more of a butt guy, or-"

"I never said he was a butt guy."

"But you were thinking it."

"Maybe…"

"Daughter! My virgin ears!"

"It might be Christmas but it doesn't mean you're the Virgin Mary."

"You get to be Jesus if I am."

"I'm struggling enough with midterms; I don't think I need any more pressure."

Their somewhat awkward conversation was ended as they pulled up in front of Luke's and the man himself joined them in the car. Rory turned to see Lane working the counters and waved with a smile, an action her friend returned with enthusiasm. Her eyes then drifted to a corner where, of course, Jess and Tiffany were making out.

"They're disgusting," Luke complained as he gestured at the couple who were all over each other.

"They've been pretty good with the whole public make out thing though, this is the first time I've seen them looking like vacuum cleaners," Lorelai mused, glancing to see her daughter's reaction to this public display of affection. She appeared stoic but not wanting to risk her doing something stupid Lorelai decided it was probably time they started driving towards her parents' house.

It was only about half the horror she had considered it would be, as Richard and Emily had decided to join in on the spirit of the season or something and only interrogated Luke for ten or so minutes during dinner. The food was really good and Lorelai recognised everything on the menu, so that was definitely a plus. It was also a bonus that Richard had won his case against Jason Stiles so the tension caused around Lorelai's ex-boyfriend seemed to be dissipating and she found herself being able to converse with her parents without anything snide or backhanded being said. Soon enough the night she'd been dreading for well over a month was over and things were calm. Not quite excited for Christmas just yet, but definitely calm.

"So… this is the diner," Lorelai announced. She wasn't sure what was going to happen now. Does she spend the night with Luke here, does he come back with them to the house, or do they just pretend it's like every other Christmas ever and they'll just turn up for breakfast in the morning?

"Correct. I've gotta go prep some pancakes, make sure we've got enough red and green dye," Luke added with a roll of his eyes, to which the two Gilmore girls laughed happily. He wasn't even pretending he didn't want to make them special Christmas pancakes. Yet another perk of Lorelai sleeping with the guy who made the best food in town. Not that Rory phrased it like that in her head, because as far as she was concerned Luke and her mom cuddled, kissed and held hands, nothing more. Which is why she closed her eyes to allow them a decent goodbye. She could still hear the disgusting sucking noises so it wasn't really helping at all.

"We'll be over at nine… right Rory?" Lorelai asked her daughter, who glanced at the diner and back.

"Keeping in mind the Jess-free environment, so it won't be awkward," Luke added. Though he wasn't sure what had happened between Rory and Jess, part of him had a pretty good idea. Not that he liked to dwell on what his nephew did to her, because as far is he was concerned Rory and Jess had cuddled, kissed and held hands, nothing more.

"But what are we going to argue about now that you've agreed to make the pancakes?" Rory asked with a smile.

"We could always bring him flowers," Lorelai suggested, and Luke just looked at the two of them like they were crazy and got out of the jeep. He may have known them for years but now he was such a huge part of their life and it freaked him out a little at how close they were. He remembered Lorelai's tears when she and Rory had fought over the summer and he was glad they were talking again, because a relationship like theirs was special. Despite him knowing he was crazy for thinking it, he had begun to hope that he stacked up as worthy of her mother's affection in Rory's eyes, as her opinion meant almost as much to him as it did the woman he was falling in love with. Berating himself slightly for his sentimentality, Luke began his pre-Christmas day prep work.

* * *

><p>The next morning didn't feature Lorelai waking Rory up at the crack of dawn. Nor did it feature her throwing anything festive at her daughter's head to get the sleeping girl to open presents. She'd decided against it after noticing how exhausted Rory looked at Friday night dinner, which was probably stress-related but it didn't make her feel any better. However Rory had been woken up at seven in the morning by a knock at her window. Groggily she stumbled to the window and opened in to find a wildly grinning Dean.<p>

"You're still asleep? Doesn't your mom usually throw stuff at you until you wake up?" He asked, ridiculously perky for this time of the morning. As everything came into focus Rory noticed that he was holding a tiny present wrapped in festive paper. Subconsciously she fingered her sapphire necklace, a gift from Jess the previous Christmas that felt so long ago.

"Yeah, she said something about going to the inn and meeting me at Luke's, but I think she just wanted me to get some sleep. I don't sleep well during exams."

"Oh… I'm sorry for waking you then," he said, not really looking sorry at all.

"It's okay, I wanted to talk to you anyway," Rory started, not believing she was going to do this to him, on Christmas of all days.

"Can't it wait? I got you a present and it's freezing out here so letting me in seems to be a good option."

"That's not a good idea. Dean, I'm so sorry, but I… I think I used you. I was so alone and it hurt and you were there all perfect and dependable and… I'm sorry."

"This is all about _him_, isn't it?" He growled, not liking the way things were going at all.

"No… well kind of. More importantly it's because we're different people now, and as much as I wish I hadn't hurt you I know we're not meant to be together. I feel like I should preserve what we had, what we were like when we were sixteen. It was wonderful, but it belongs to our past selves. I'll always cherish our time together, but-"

"Okay, I get it!" Dean all but shouted. Rory looked as though she was going to say something, probably something sappy like 'I hope we can still be friends' or some other bullshit, but Dean couldn't bear to hear it. Turning his back on the Gilmore's house he knew where he was going, but he had no idea what he was going to do when he got there.

* * *

><p>Jess hated Christmas with a fiery passion. Not because he'd been so excited by the visit from Santa when he was four years old and the closest thing he got to a present was Liz passed out under their (stolen) tree Christmas morning. Though he was sure that played a part in his loathing of the season of cheer. More recently it was due to the fact that his last two Christmases were spent in the company of a beautiful, intelligent girl with bright blue eyes. This year, he wasn't going to be so lucky. Hell, this year he didn't want to be anywhere near her or anything related to her. Which was the reason he was up before eight already cleaning the diner so he could get the hell out of there before the blue-eyed girl in question or her mother would turn up begging for coffee and coloured pancakes, as was tradition.<p>

His wishes were far from being granted however, as he would soon learn. Maybe it was something to do with carrying garbage in this town, but Jess got an eerie sense of déjà vu as he rounded the corner to the dumpster only to be stopped by the angry giant himself, Dean.

"I think I've read this part before. You threaten me, I make some sarcastic comment that goes over your head, and we both walk away feeling like we just wasted five minutes of our lives," Jess said with what almost passed as a smile in answer to Dean's menacing glare. Sometimes this guy was too much, he went from harmless puppy to full-on Disney villain in an instant. Then suddenly memories of a conversation with Lane appeared in his mind, and Jess wasn't so cheerful about mocking the man any more.

"I've never hated anyone before. I've held grudges, not gotten along with a couple of guys, but never have a felt such a feeling of blind hatred as I do whenever I see you."

"Wow, that was a pretty big sentence there. Want me to grab you a seat? That must've been exhausting for your poor brain."

"For once in your life Jess, shut the fuck up!"

"Bad bag-boy, I don't think Taylor would want you dropping the big f-bomb in the middle of town."

"I'm warning you."

"What are you going to do, hit me? Because I've been meaning to test that glass jaw of yours for a long time. You might be bigger than me but we both know who'd win in a fight."

"It's bad enough that you showed up in town and took her from me!"

"What do you care, you got her in the end," Jess muttered, the early hour making his melancholy of this situation more prominent.

"Like hell I did! You turned her into a whore!" Those last words were like fire and ice all at once to Jess. He could handle Dean's petty jabs about his own person, but this was disgusting.

"Say that again," he said softly, almost in a serenely manner.

"It's what she is! She's no better than a dirty, disgusting slu-" that was all that Dean managed to say before Jess punched him square in the face. Blood spurted everywhere as Dean fell to the ground, writhing in pain as he clutched at his obviously broken nose.

"I'm going to say this once, and I'm going to say it with small words: I don't want to ever see your disgusting face again. You stay away from me, you stay away from Luke… hell, and you can stay away from Lorelai while you're at it! But above all else, and make no mistake when I tell you that I'll know if you break this and I'll make your life a living hell… you stay the hell away from Rory."

Dean made a muffled noise that sounded like a mixture of fear and the hiss of a cat, and stood up and stumbled away from the visibly shaking Jess. That punch had been left dormant for far too long. Trying to rid his head of Dean's words, he turned to face the diner only to see that a very familiar jeep was parked outside. Lorelai exited looking at him with a myriad of emotion, amongst which confusion reigned supreme.

"What the hell was that Jess?" She asked as soon as she was within talking distance. Jess just looked at her, feeling more lost and confused than he had in a long time.

"He called her a whore."

"He called Tiffany a whore?"

"No, he called _her_ a whore."

"Oh," Lorelai managed as sudden realisation as to who this fight was about dawned on her, "I have to kill the bastard, don't I?"

"I don't think he'll be sticking around much longer."

"Well, good. Uh… this is something I shouldn't tell her about, isn't it?"

"It'd be preferable."

"You're a good man, Jess."

"I just punched a guy out. I broke his nose."

"Better than what I would've done."

"You're her mother. I think the jury would let you off on some kind of weird technicality."

"Maybe," she smiled at his ability to be witty even when the last thing he wanted to do right now was talk to anyone, let alone the mother of the girl whose honour he just defended, "Merry Christmas Jess."

"Same to you, Lorelai."

* * *

><p><strong>Dean you jerk *shakes fist angrily*. I really hope I'm not the only one who was very attracted to angry virtue and honour protecting Jess. Sorry about the whole making Rory and Dean have sex thing, though at least I made it after Lindsay ditched him. Also I really like JessLane and Jess/Lorelai together times, I think that shows in this chapter.**

**Review and if I ever become super rich I'll buy you a pony. I think a figurative pony's good incentive, right?**


	14. Liars Like You and Me

**So first of all let me thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for not only sticking with me through this, but getting me to 50 reviews! That's so cool and I love you all regardless if you reviewed or not. Prepare yourself for some insanity, and a certain blonde gentleman who might've been good enough for Rory if there wasn't someone not-so-tall, dark and snarky in existence. Song this week you have to check out, because it's from one of my favourite bands and they're not popular enough. It's 'Photographs and Gasoline' by Framing Hanley and one part of its brilliance is that it works with another song on the album, 'You' as a story about a man's journey from the wrong woman to the one he was always in love with. The two songs are actually the basis of this story, so go and love the band if you like alt-rock, or just read on and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I married Milo Ventimiglia on The Sims, does that count? No? Oh well.**

Liars Like You and Me

"Make it shut up already!"

Jess groaned at the combination of the shrill voice and current ringing of his cell phone. He had no idea what time it was, or really what day it was, only that he had a killer headache which meant there was a very good chance he'd gotten really drunk last night and ended up in bed with some strange woman. As the ringing continued he realised that it was New Year's Day, he had indeed gotten completely hammered at the apartment because he knew Luke wasn't coming home and the woman next to him wasn't a stranger, but rather his girlfriend Tiffany. He also knew that he shouldn't be disappointed with the last fact, but the idea that he'd gone out and cheated on her seemed almost too good to be true, the perfect excuse for ending their relationship, something he'd been considering since he met her. But she was convenient, so here they were, equally hungover and naked as his phone rang on.

"Hello?" He answered finally, his coarse voice making his head split open with its volume.

"Jessica!" a loud, boisterous voice replied in greeting, making Jess groan, "oops, sorry. Sounds like you got stuck into the celebrating."

"What do you want Chris?"

"You need to get your ass here! Right now! Find an adult to drive you because you're probably still drunk, but get here! Please?"

"Can I shower first?"

"You better, I'm not putting up with the foul stench of unwashed drunk."

"You didn't go out last night?"

"I don't ever get a hangover, part of my breeding as a-"

"Frat boy alcoholic?"

"Yep."

"I'm on my way."

Which wasn't exactly true, as he flaked out back onto the bed as soon as the phone went dead. He knew he had to take something for his headache, run a shower and he'd be fine. He didn't even think to ask Chris was the reason he needed to rush up to the bookstore for. Jess had gotten used to the eccentric way both he and Matthew acted and ran the store, so he knew asking for details would probably be useless. The hardest problem he was facing was finding someone to drive him up to Hartford. Chris was right, he had way too much to drink last night to even consider driving. He needed someone who didn't drink, who spent their New Year's Eve alone or with some super-conservative religious family…

* * *

><p>"Told you getting your license would be beneficial."<p>

"Shut up Jess." Lane said lightly as she started driving him to Hartford. Secretly she couldn't stop smiling, and she hoped that the man she was in the car with didn't notice.

"You're in a weirdly good mood today," Jess commented nonchalantly.

"Some of us didn't spend all last night doing tequila shots on our girlfriends," she quipped, though the joking venom behind her words was lost as she couldn't contain her smile or overall bubbly, good mood.

"I'm eighty per cent sure I didn't do- you kissed Zack last night didn't you?" He rushed out in triumph as he deciphered her mood. Lane didn't reply, but her smile grew wider, and soon she was nodding and giggling and doing all sorts of girly things that freaked Jess out a little. Not just because he didn't like dealing with feminine crap, but he'd worked with Lane, went to college with her, and even _lived _with her for a while and he'd never seen her act so distinctly lovesick before.

"I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. It hit midnight and I just went for it! I left before he woke up today so I don't know what's going on, but I think it's going to be awesome!"

"Guessing he kissed you back?"

"Uh, yeah!"

They kept the conversation light for the rest of the way there, Jess enjoying the company of a female that didn't get on his nerves constantly. He and Lane liked similar music, so that was always a fun discussion point. Not to mention that she wasn't a complete idiot like the woman he found himself currently in a relationship with. Tiffany was one of those people who were smart when it came to studying and being educated, but on all other levels she was a complete moron. Still she occupied his time fairly well and he knew a few ways to shut her up.

"So, do you want to come in with me, or what?" Jess asked.

"Actually, if it's okay by you, I'd like to drive to… somewhere. And talk to a person about a thing," Lane's very vague description meant that she was talking about something she thought might hurt Jess, so he safely assumed it was a Rory-related thing.

"Can you park on campus please? I don't trust my car being in New Haven alone."

"Deal! I'll be back in two hours, okay?"

"Hopefully whatever Chris has dragged me her for will only take that long."

"Good luck!"

Jess exited the car and walked towards the bookstore, unsurprised to see it closed. Before he got to the door Chris ran out and opened it for him, his excitement clear on his face. He was practically bouncing with anticipation. Matthew on the other hand was sitting on the counter next to the coffee machine, a paper cup in one hand and a cigarette in another, looking exactly how Jess had felt first thing this morning.

"This better be important," he grumbled as he poured himself more coffee. Jess just shook his head at the polarising duo and poured himself a cup too.

"Stamford," Chris said simply.

"What?" Jess and Matthew said in unison.

"Stamford."

"-is a city in this fine state of Connecticut?" Jess hazarded a guess, no idea what this man was on about.

"Stamford, my friends, is where we're going."

"Excuse me, it's where _we're _going? Like you're piling us in the minivan and taking off?" Matthew asked incredulously.

"Hear me out! I was on my way back from New York a while ago and I stopped in Stamford, and there was this building. Small, unassuming, but awesome. It had this huge downstairs area for some kind of business, and a sweet two bedroom apartment upstairs. Plus the old lady who owned it recently died and her estate were just trying to get rid of it as soon as possible. So I bought it."

"You bought a building in Stamford?" Jess asked, wondering if the man was insane or just had too big of a trust fund.

"It's perfect! But I'm not just talking about a bookstore any more. Guys, we need to get into publishing."

"We do?"

"Hush Matthew, and listen! It's the perfect place between New York and all of Connecticut's biggest cities, the building is perfect and there's no business like it around there. We have nothing but competing bookstores here, and this is our chance to grab life by the balls! You want to get published right Matt? Well let's get you published!"

"It's the most insane idea I've ever heard," Matthew muttered darkly.

"I'm in," Jess announced suddenly. The two heads of his colleagues snapped towards him, "Chris, for all the insanity, is right. It's an amazing business opportunity. How much money do you want?"

"I was thinking you could give me five grand each as a down payment. Then we'll all be business partners! Plus I'm at Yale so you guys will be my tenants in the apartment."

"You're completely insane. But if Jess is in, I'm in."

"Fantastic. So… name ideas?"

* * *

><p>Jess returned to Luke's later that day feeling more excited about his future than he had in a long time, possibly ever. The diner was deserted except for Lorelai who just seemed to be hanging around drinking coffee and flirting with his uncle. She turned to see him and smiled in greeting, and he gave her a nod in response. He still didn't like to smile very often.<p>

"Jess! You will never believe the colour Luke's face turned when he walked upstairs and found your girlfriend, shall we say… indisposed? And also not particularly clothed. It was the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life. Not naked Tiffany, but Luke's face."

"I could imagine."

"For the sake of my sanity please don't," Luke said with a roll of his eyes, and Jess felt a sudden pang of gratefulness towards the man. He'd fed him, given him a place to sleep and bought him a car, all of which meant he had saved enough to give his part of the money towards Chris' crazy but amazing business idea.

"I'm moving to Stamford," He blurted suddenly, and both Luke and Lorelai looked at him with shock. He explained the idea behind a publishing house, and was pleasantly surprised when they both congratulated him.

"It's perfect for you!" Lorelai enthused.

"I figured you'd end up working somewhere being paid to ignore people and stick your head in a book," Luke teased, though it was partly sincere. The pride he felt in hearing about his nephew's big plans was strange, but very welcome. The screw up he almost let run away was doing quite well for himself.

"Do you need help packing?"

"Who needs help packing?" Tiffany asked as she descended from the stairs, her fake red hair in a messy ponytail as she snacked on an apple. Jess figured it was now or never with telling her.

"Me. I'm moving to Stamford," Jess said in what he thought was a caring tone, though it sounded pretty void of emotion. Tiffany's eyes went wide and for one horrifying moment Jess thought she was about to cry. But he should've known she wouldn't let a little thing like being dumped smudge her makeup. As though they could sense the confrontation that was about to occur, Lorelai and Luke managed to slip out unnoticed.

"So, you're breaking up with me?"

"Pretty much." Harsh.

"But… I could like, come to Stamford with you!"

"I'd prefer if you didn't."

"So that's it? You're just going to leave me? I thought you loved me!"

"I never said I loved you."

"Well you acted like it!" Tiffany screeched, and that was the last straw for him.

"Seriously? When? Because we were having sex? I haven't loved most of the girls I've slept with! Hell, I barely tolerated one or two of them."

"Most?" She questioned, and all of a sudden she was doing that annoying thing of being intelligent in all the wrong moments, "You're in love with someone else, aren't you? Oh my god, I can't believe I was so like, stupid!"

"Well, you were," Jess replied to these accusations in a way that was not an admission, but it was hardly a denial either. Tiffany just looked at him with the most upset, angry and disgusted look on her face, and flipped him off as she walked to the door.

"Fuck you Jess!"

"You already did!" He shouted at her.

* * *

><p><strong>So this chapter's a little short because I cut it in half, as I didn't feel like the two halves flowed well together. The rest should be up within a small amount of time. I also imagine the JessTiffany breakup was very similar to the off-screen Jess/Shane breakup, because Gilmore Girls didn't use naughty F words. Next up we'll have Jess in his new place, some Luke/Lorelai drama and way too much Logan.**

**Review please!**


	15. I Can't Afford a Ferrari

**As promised a speedy update, and I'm feeling so inspired (as you might be able to tell by the blocks of text near the end) that the next update might be out quickly too! I'm guessing the timeline for this chapter is mid-February in case you were wondering. Song this week didn't come to me straight away, but it's (excuse the naughty language. I have no problem swearing when I'm writing Jess but when I'm writing as Jessica it's a little weirder) 'Fuck You' by Cee-Lo Green. Everyone knows that song, and it's bloody amazing. In this context it's more about being ditched for someone richer and not so much the gold digger aspect.**

Disclaimer: I guess I own Jess' car, but I don't drive. So he can keep it.

I Can't Afford a Ferrari

Jess woke and studied his new surroundings. Nearly two months later he couldn't believe that he had his own room, with walls and a king-sized bed and everything. It was sparsely decorated, the only major pieces of furniture being the built-in wardrobe and the large bookcase that Luke had built for him. Still it wasn't enough to contain his ever-increasing library, so a large amount of the floor was covered in paperbacks, covering the awful grey carpet that was on his and Matthew's bedroom floors. Fortunately the rest of the place went with wood or tiles, but the entire apartment had a distinct 70s feel that they were slowly eradicating. This weekend they were repainting (with permission from their landlord) and they were starting a fund to get new carpet. It wasn't much, but it was beginning to feel like home.

He got Fridays off (As per their agreement Matthew got Wednesdays and he got Fridays) and he planned on enjoying it. Beginning a business was hard work and he was working sixty hour weeks just to get it off the ground, not to mention the work he was doing for college (via correspondence these days). But they'd gotten a few clients and the place downstairs was nearing completion (well, complete enough to open to the public) so it was on the verge of being a successful venture. Sure it would take a long time, probably years, until any noticeable earnings would be made, but it would be worth it to do something he enjoyed.

"You off, Mariano?" Matthew asked with a hint on envy in his voice as he wrestled with some bubble wrap.

"Don't work too hard, and just remember that we'll pile all the work on Chris when he graduates," Jess said with a smirk, which caused laughter in the taller man. Soon he was driving towards a decent café for some breakfast, before deciding it would probably be a good time to check in with Luke. He hadn't called in almost a fortnight, and he hadn't been back to Stars Hollow since he left the day after New Year's. Luke had come down to visit once and brought with him the bookshelf, and that was the last time they'd spoken. He mentioned something about a vow renewal ceremony involving the elder Gilmores, so they could probably mock that together if he called.

"Yes?" Luke answered the phone in his usual gruff demeanour.

"You should try saying 'hello', Uncle Luke. A little thing called manners," Jess teased as he lit a cigarette at one of the outside tables. As far as he knew this was the only place in Stamford that allowed smoking anywhere near food.

"Jess, what do you want?" Jess was taken aback a little at his uncle's tone. He sounded tired, angry and altogether morose. It was slightly worrying, and Jess didn't usually worry about people. Maybe this was a sign that he was becoming a mature part business owner.

"Just calling in on my favourite uncle!" Or maybe not with the maturity.

"Do you actually want anything? Money, food, a place to mooch off?"

"Geez, what is your problem?" Jess spat angrily before hanging up the phone. Luke never rubbed his nose in all he did for him, at least not seriously. Something was definitely up.

Looks like he'd have to visit Stars Hollow a lot sooner than he'd hoped.

* * *

><p>Arriving at Stars Hollow a few hours later, he decided not to seek out Luke directly but rather to find Lorelai. She was more open and upfront about feelings and Jess guessed since they were dating she'd know what was wrong with his uncle. He saw her entering Weston's with Lane and decided to park his car and follow her in. Why she was going here and not Luke's was strange, especially since it wasn't the season for candy cane coffee.<p>

"I miss Luke's!" Lorelai whined as they sat down with their coffees and pie.

"Correction, you miss _Luke_. I can't believe your mother would do such a thing!"

"You can't believe my mother would sabotage my relationship with Luke to try and push me towards Christopher? I'm sorry Lane, but it's not like you're new to the program!"

"I don't know your mom!"

"She's like yours, but with enough money to have me killed and make it look like an accident."

"No one's as bad as Mama Kim. But you didn't drag me out of… well,"

"Sucking face with Zack, hon. It's okay to say you were making out with a guy."

"Yes, that. What's the big news?"

"Not so much big news on me as it is on Rory. In between Christopher undermining Luke and Luke's eventual storming out," _That explains absolutely everything, _Jess thought as he made to leave. The two hadn't noticed him yet but they were bound to soon. However the idea of hearing about Rory was too much for him to miss out on, "The three of us happened upon a room that featured my only daughter getting very frisky with some guy."

"How frisky are we talking?"

"Disney wouldn't allow it, but it was more a matter of hands and tongues than anything particularly dirty."

"Does the mystery guy have a name?"

"Logan Huntzberger."

"Sounds fancy."

"Blonde, arrogant, dad owns half of the world. Probably drives a Porsche. I could overlook all that and still like the guy, but that's not the worst part. No, it seems that he doesn't 'do' girlfriends, and Rory informs me that they are 'casual'."

"Like a friends with benefits type thing?"

"Ew don't put it like that! I don't want to think of this guy using my daughter for- Jess! What are you doing in Stars Hollow?"

Jess didn't reply straight away, as his mind was still processing this new information. Though he was trying his best to put Rory in his past it seemed like the universe wouldn't let him, she was all anyone seemed to talk about. That was one of the reasons he didn't want to come back to Stars Hollow any time soon. But here he was, seeking information about his uncle and getting so much more than he bargained for. Rory was dating a guy that sounded like the polar opposite of him, and technically they weren't even dating! He didn't expect her to live like a nun or anything, but she seemed so insistent on being a 'girlfriend-girl' as he's sure she'd phrase it. It just shocked him that this guy was bringing out the side of her that Jess saw, but few others did. Maybe he was getting a censored version, or a twisted version of the real Rory that only came out for Lorelai, Lane and Jess. Or maybe she'd just changed completely and was one of those vapid socialites she'd been forced to attend school with.

"Hey Jess! Are you on your way to Hartford or something?"

"Nah, I just dropped in to see Luke and then I saw you guys in here so I thought I'd say hey."

"Okay. Lorelai, I'm just going to go and talk to Jess about a college thing we have due, do you mind ordering me some more pie?"

"Do you expect it to be fully in tact upon your return?"

"No."

"Cherry it is then!"

Lane pulled Jess through the front door of Weston's and basically forced him to sit in his car before making her way to the passenger's seat, closing the door to avoid the chill of late winter, which was especially windy and disgusting that year.

"Hijacking my car?" Jess asked as he reached for a cigarette, before Lane swatted at his hand.

"You quit, remember?"

"I've quite a couple times."

"Just because you're doing the whole independent tortured soul publishing man doesn't mean you have to smoke like one."

"Might as well fit the bill though."

"At least think of my poor lungs," Lane said as a last-ditch effort, and this made Jess falter and retract his hand from the packet.

"What's the cause of this clandestine meeting anyway?"

"I saw you listening in on our conversation, I'm just more tactful than Lorelai."

"And this means…"

"What are we going to do?"

"What are we going to do about what?"

"Are we going to sabotage him, or her, maybe get you a giant horse to ride in on…"

"You're insane and I have no idea what you're high on or what you're talking about."

"Rory's dating an asshat, Jess! A genuine, born-and-bred with all types of fancy spoons in his mouth asshat!"

"So?"

"So surely you're just as upset about this as I am!"

"Geez Lane, maybe you should date her," Jess quipped, causing Lane to groan slightly in frustration and slump back into the seat.

"You're not bothered by this at all?"

"She's an adult capable of making her own decisions."

"Aha! So this is bothering you, isn't it?"

"It's none of my business. Speaking of none of my business, what happened to Luke and Lorelai? Surely my idiot uncle didn't believe all the crap Emily Gilmore was playing at?"

Lane went off into a massive rant regarding what she'd heard about the breakup of Luke and Lorelai, the conversation she wanted to have about Rory forgotten for the moment as she got to dish out gossip to Jess, who had apparently been absent for a lot of drama in a little over a month and a half. He listened half-heartedly, getting the gist in the first few words and then letting Lane ramble on about vow ceremonies and rich people feeling entitled to things. More of his energy was being spent on mulling over the news about Rory's new romantic interest. He hated that he even cared who she was seeing, let alone feeling pissed off at a guy he'd never met before because he liked his relationships 'casual' or 'no strings attached' or whatever disgusting way to phrase having casual sex with a person. Rory deserved better than some jerk who couldn't keep it in his pants long enough to make some kind of commitment to another person. His hands were itching to grab a smoke, hoping the nicotine would distract him enough to ignore the once dormant pit of jealousy at the bottom of his stomach lurch to life. Instead he contented himself with a loud sigh that brought Lane back from wherever she'd been mid-rant.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?" Lane asked with all the sympathy in the world laced in her voice.

Jess considered scoffing, or giving her a few choice words. Maybe if he told her to get lost, fuck off or beat it she'd stop talking to him entirely. These options were sorely tempting, but highly uncalled for. Besides, he actually thought of her as a pretty good friend. If you told seventeen year old Jess Mariano that he'd have a few decent friends in the town of Stars Hollow he would've told you where to go. But here he was, in a car his uncle bought him for his hard word, his one day off from what was probably his dream job, sitting in a car with Lane Kim about to spill his guts to the best friend of Rory Gilmore. That made this entire thing dangerous, but he trusted Lane enough to keep everything between them confidential.

"When am I not?" He answered, and he knew the instant the words formed in his mouth that it was true.

Though he tried to ignore it and force it from his mind with ridiculous work hours and a hectic study load, Rory was hovering near most of his conscious thought. She was one of the first things he thought about when he woke up, and usually the last thing on his mind when he went to sleep. Then there were the dreams. Most of them couldn't be described as erotic (though he certainly had _those _dreams) but were rather sensual. It wasn't so much about what happened, but more the feeling around it all, the atmosphere. The emotions he felt when he dreamed about her were unmatched by anything he'd felt before. It was enough to drive him crazy, the dreams in which Rory Gilmore stood right in front of him, inviting and the embodiment of perfection, but still so far away and his hands refused to move to touch her. It was practically torture.

"You're all kinds of lovesick, you know that?"

"I've noticed." He replied bitingly. "I work a lot and it's so consuming that I usually don't have time to think unless I'm sleeping or eating. The eating bit is fine, I can think about ham or pickles or something. But the sleeping… I have these dreams about her. They reflect real life so much and it pisses me off!"

"Maybe you should talk to her about it?"

"No." Was his stubborn response.

"Okay then, talking is bad." Lane weighed her thoughts carefully, trying to think of a solution to Jess' problem. The way he spoke just then showed her a side of him she'd never really seen. His bitter sarcasm met with seriousness in a way that was almost poetic. "Have you ever considered writing about it?"

"Writing? Like 'dear diary, today I experienced that one dream involving Rory and a convertible that usually cropped up when I was feeling particularly horny' type writing?"

"You could do a journal I guess, but I meant more like prose. Make it a narrative. Use your emotions to make something completely different and yet exactly the same." She slapped Jess hard on the leg at this point, her eyes lit with excitement. "You could publish it! Oh my god Jess, that's perfect! I'ma freaking genius!"

"Maybe not a genius, you've left Lorelai in there with your pie for far too long."

"That's your way of getting rid of me, isn't it? Okay, but think about it! And don't be a stranger!"

"Okay, and maybe." He called to her a she exited the car. Jess decided skipping his trip to Luke's would probably be best, as the general consensus was that he wasn't very fun to be around at the moment. However he decided to try Lane's advice and on his way home stopped at an office supply store and bought himself a plain black notebook and some pens. Sitting back in the driver's seat he stared at his new purchases for a moment before ripping into the bag, barely having time to take the lid off the pen before the ideas came to him thick and fast.

He ended up sitting in that parking lot for hours.

* * *

><p><strong>So I just realised that these last two chapters have been completely Rory-free. Should I make the next one Rory-centric or just stick with Jess? I'm undecided. <strong>

**Shameless pandering for reviews. Have a great day!  
><strong>


	16. You Got Your Head in the Clouds

**Can I blame any or all spelling/grammar issues with the last chapter on the fact that my space bar was screwing up? Yes? Excellent! One day I'll edit this entire thing and repost it error-free. You're all so lovely in your reviews that it makes me feel better about making stupid mistakes that haunt me in my dreams… floating 'too/to/two's, being attacked by the ghost of incorrect tense, it's terrifying! Hope you enjoy this chapter, I know I will. Song of the chapter? Why it's 'Rumour Has It' by the wonderful Adele. This song does things to my soul. If it had been around two years ago when I was utterly obsessed with a certain boy, it would've been my life story. Still, it's brilliant, as is the mash-up they did on Glee of this and 'Someone Like You'. **

**Disclaimer: Rumour has it I don't own anything. **

You Got Your Head in the Clouds

"Who's the blonde?"

It was a Sunday afternoon at the publishing house, and the place was deserted save three individuals. The first being the blonde in question, a tall woman with slightly smudged makeup wearing last night's dress as she hastily made to leave the store. The others were the asker of the question, Matthew, and the recipient, Jess. The intense first few months of working on their pet project had resulted in their ability to actually have lives now, and the blonde woman was a prime example of why Jess was loving being finally able to legally drink.

"I think her name was Beth. Something with a B, at least," Jess replied as he lazily stocked and tidied some shelves.

"She was smoking hot!"

"She's a Sylvia Plath fan."

"You're telling me you got a girl to come home with you by talking about _books_?"

"It's my natural charisma."

"Go to hell."

This had been their recent pattern. Both of the boys would go out to a pub or bar somewhere nearby (occasionally accompanied by Chris), then one would leave early to open the store the next day and the other would generally find themselves in the company of a woman. Unfortunately for Matthew, Jess seemed to have a higher success rate, mostly due to an innate ability to tell whether or not a woman was interested as well as natural seduction skills. As much as Matthew hated to admit it, the guy had all the charisma in the world… in a monosyllabic, cynical, grouchy old man sort of way.

Gone was the unshaven hobo look with long, unkempt hair. He was mostly clean shaven these days, with his hair now at the mercy of hair gel once more. He'd gotten better at making it look more natural, but Jess still cared about his appearance more than he would like to. But if it resulted in more stimulating 'conversations' like he had with Brittany, or Belinda, or something… who was he to complain?

"You gonna call this one?" Matthew asked as he started the first pot of coffee for the day. The entire place had been dead, which wasn't surprising considering how cold a November day it was. He figured his roommate would need some caffeine after finally emerging from upstairs at one in the afternoon.

"She didn't leave a number."

"Smart."

"I don't go near stupid girls."

"Standards, who needs them?"

"Not me, that's for sure!" A voice chimed from the door. Chris stood there carrying a large box, his face betraying his excitement for whatever contents it held. Seeing the box made Jess feel a little faint. He knew it was coming, he knew that his two partners had taken it out of his hands claiming that he was too much of a perfectionist so he had no idea what it looked like any more. But inside that box was the first (and probably only) print run of his novella, _The Subsect_.

Time was not taken to revel in the moment, as Jess tore the box from Chris's hands and opened the box on a nearby table. The cover was simple, it merely featured a tree that had lost the majority of its leaves. Seeing 'by Jess Mariano' on the cover, his name on a book… the feeling was incredible. Still, he wasn't one for emotional moments.

"This is the cover you guys went for? Did you get some freshman art student to decide on the cheesiest, most cliché picture in history or something?"

"Congratulations, man." Chris said with a smile and a clap on Jess' back. He'd been dealing with the shorter man too long to take anything he said too seriously.

"It's a really good story, you deserve it." Matthew enthused, making Jess feel a renewed sense of confidence in his ability. Sure this book would probably never see much light from anything beyond where it stood now, but it was his and even if he had to bust his ass for years he was going to get it to enough bookstores to at least make back the money they used for the paper.

"So I guess I better go and peddle this to as many places as possible." Jess said with a resigned sigh, though really the idea of getting back on the road, especially while being paid to do it, seemed entirely enticing.

"You're leaving tomorrow?" Matthew asked with a small frown. He knew when Jess' book was finished he'd be alone with only their designer Sara and a bunch of crazy poets for company, but that didn't mean he had to be happy about it. He'd miss Jess' pessimistic take on everything. Jess shook his head.

"I'm probably heading out in an hour or so. Going to spend the night in Stars Hollow and work my way from there. Haven't seen Luke in almost a year, and I should probably go congratulate him on his engagement in person."

"Ooh can I come?" Chris loved hearing stories about the eccentric little town, and he made no qualms about wanting to visit sometime. "I wanna meet Kirk!"

"I don't know why you'd want to visit that asylum anyway, but I promise next time you can tag along."

"Yay! Maybe we could go when there's a festival?"

"How about the festival of my foot in your ass?"

"Jessica, you're such a mean old city slicker!"

"And you're from the quaint town of Chicago?"

"I'm a country boy at heart!"

The three bickered about stupid things for far too long, eventually pulling out a few beers to celebrate Jess' new book as well as just to commiserate that this was the last time they'd hang out together for a while. Chris was in his last year at Yale, Matthew was going to visit his family in North Carolina as soon as Jess got back, and Jess was about to go on yet another roadtrip. He considered where to have his first stop in terms of accommodation, and decided Hartford was probably his best bet. Not only was it near his uncle, they had a plethora of bookstores in the city and neighbouring areas. Plus it would give him a chance to seek out the reason for the book's existence, the woman who made it all possible. Hopefully she wouldn't be offended by the dark nature of the text, after all it wasn't exactly about her, more the emotion and depth of sensations he felt surrounding her. He'd done what Lane suggested and wrote something the same, yet completely different. He doubted Rory would even be able to tell she was his inspiration. Plus he knew her love of angst in books, so she'd probably eat it up. Worst case scenario she threw the book at his head, and he'd be ready to deal with that.

* * *

><p>After a full few days of pushing his book onto unsuspecting store owners, Jess decided it was time to bite the bullet and finally visit Rory. He'd planned on doing it the day after seeing Luke and getting her details, but once he found out that she and Lorelai were no longer speaking due to a stolen yacht, community service and dropping out of Yale he didn't exactly feel like rushing off to the Gilmore mansion. It was nearly dark out when he finally found himself standing at the foot of the driveway.<p>

"Jess?" Her voice sent a shock through his system. He hadn't properly heard it since the ill-fated Dragonfly Inn experience, and he'd forgotten how innocent she always sounded. Now though, it seemed like a part of that innocence was lost. She wore designer clothes and had an expensive-looking haircut, and a ridiculous amount of makeup. Perhaps he was being a little melodramatic about that, but he was just used to her looking so natural and fresh that this aspect of grown-up Rory surprised him.

"Hey Rory." He responded with ease. There was still almost half a driveway between them, and Jess took a few tentative steps towards her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm the new pool boy." He quipped before dazzling her with his smirk. Rory didn't use words like dazzle very often because they were cheesy and better adjectives existed, but it succinctly described what Jess was doing to her right now. She hadn't spoken to him directly in over a year, and it seemed like he'd matured. His face only showed the slightest hint of stubble (she noticed as she approached him) and his hair was the shortest she'd seen since they were actually dating. A very large part of her was still trying to figure out why _Jess Mariano_ was currently standing in front of her grandparents' house.

"Please, you'd need to train for years to reach grandma's standards. What are you doing here?" She repeated the question with a little more impatience, her shock at his sudden appearance slowly wearing off.

"I wrote a book."

"You… wrote a book?"

"A short novel, actually. It's not much, but-"

"You wrote a book! Oh my god Jess, that's amazing!"

"Not really."

"Yes really! Where can I buy a copy? Oh, will you sign it for me?" The mask of high-society Rory was slipping, all at the mention of a book. Jess smiled to himself at this fact.

"I've brought you a copy. You know none of this would've happened without you." He surprised himself with his seriousness as he handed her the book. She just stayed grinning at him and clutching the book wildly to her chest. "You pushed me to be better. This book is just a by-product of all the hard work I've done, because of you."

"You would've done it yourself, you know. You've got a big brain; you just needed something to focus on. Something you're passionate about… I'm still going to hunt down and buy a copy, you know?" She added to lighten the mood, a small, perfect smile on her lips.

"We'd appreciate the sale."

"We?"

"Matthew, Chris and me. We opened our own publishing place in February."

"Wow, I can't believe no one told me that."

"Yeah, well… Look, I've gotta go finish up some work tonight, I've got a meeting with some guy in half an hour. But, are you busy tomorrow night?"

"Umm…" She thought of Logan, away wherever doing whatever. He wouldn't like her hanging out with an ex. But it was _Jess_, and he'd written a book! "Tomorrow night, you say?"

"I'll be here at seven."

* * *

><p>"He's a jerk!"<p>

"Jess, I'm sorry. He's tired, he's been drinking. This isn't him!"

Their plans for the following evening had been unceremoniously crashed by one Logan Huntzberger. Not only had he invited himself to dinner, he spent the entire time getting drunk and running Jess into the ground. Eventually Jess couldn't take it anymore and had stormed outside. He was pretty sure Rory was going to follow him, ever the little problem solver, and here she was. It seemed like the only problem she couldn't solve was her own life.

"What the hell is going on?" Jess decided to go on the offence.

"I told you! He's tired, and his family's bugging him right now-"

"No, I mean, with you! What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean! I know you, I know you better than anyone! This isn't you!"

"I don't know!" Rory shouted back defensively.

"What are you doing? Living at your grandparents' place, being in the DAR, no Yale… why did you drop out of Yale?" Jess was really getting into it now; his voice had begun to carry. He rarely raised his voice, but this seemed like one of those times.

"It's complicated!"

"It's not, it's not 'complicated'!"

"You don't know!"

"This isn't you! This! You going out with this jerk? With a Porsche? We made fun of guys like this!"

"I know, but-"

"Whatever. Go back inside, he's waiting for you."

Rory bit her lip and stared hard at Jess. Suddenly everything was coming clear, the mistakes she'd been making. She missed her special twenty-first birthday celebration for crying out loud! She'd been planning that since she was old enough to know what blackjack was!

"Give me five minutes."

"What?"

"I think we should go and get really drunk. But I'm just going to go and talk to Logan first."

"Okay."

Rory was a little surprised by the easy agreement. "Okay?"

"You think I'm missing out on seeing you drunk?"

* * *

><p>An hour or so passed and several drinks later Rory and Jess were laughing at things that probably didn't make much sense, nor were they particularly hilarious. Both weren't exactly drunk yet, more that pleasant sensation of calm and bubbling that you get before being completely intoxicated. It wasn't helping that they had skipped beer and wine and gone straight for the bourbon. Still, the relaxed atmosphere of the small bar and the buzz of the alcohol was making for a very wonderful conversation setting.<p>

"So… what kind of drunk are you?" Rory chattered away quickly, already signalling some poor bar staff that she wanted a refill.

"What do you mean?"

"There are all sorts of drunks. For example, I am the type of drunk who can't have a phone. I will text or call everyone and then they all hate me." Rory said as she was given a new drink, this time a gin and tonic. She began sipping thoughtfully as Jess considered her question.

"Give me some examples."

"Okay. Well there's clingy drunk, those are those girls you see plastered onto guys. Tired drunk, dancing drunk, slutty drunk, singing dru- you flinched!"

"I did what?"

"When I said slutty drunk you so flinched. You're a slutty drunk!"

"That's crazy!"

"I bet you get really drunk and go up to every girl wherever you are and get super sleazy!"

"Not every girl! I still have standards."

"So you _are_ a slutty drunk?"

"If we had to define it…"

"Slutty Jess!"

"Shut up or I'll steal your phone and send dirty messages to everyone!"

"That's pretty slutty of you." She replied with a giggle, definitely feeling the kick of the last drink.

"Shut up."

"Only if you go get us some tequila shots."

"Deal."

The round of shots soon doubled, then tripled, and then they moved onto some more beverages that could only be described as both delicious and clear, so it was probably a martini. Eventually they came stumbling out of the bar, laughing uncontrollably. It turned out that they shared the symptom of tequila making them especially prone to fits of giggles.

"Why aren't there more country songs about drowning your sorrows in tequila?" Rory asked as she clutched onto Jess' arm for support, which made him instinctively put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer in what usually was a smooth move. Tonight it involved much more bumbling.

"Probably because they think the tequila is trying to jump the border."

"Yes Jess, it's definitely a race issue."

"Plus tequila is too happy!"

"Yay! Oh my god, that girl is totally checking you out!"

"What? What girl? There's no girl!"

"Sure there is! Listen to you, you're so eager to find this girl. Slutty drunk Jess strikes again!"

"I told you, that girl came onto me…"

"Whatever you say, slutty drunk Jess."

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

Without hesitation Jess shut her up the only way he knew how: he kissed her. Rory seemed shocked at first, but soon relaxed into the kiss, the taste of bourbon and tequila entering her mouth.

She didn't stop him as he pulled her towards the alley next to the bar, before pushing her against the wall and continuing his barrage against her lips. She'd forgotten how much of an amazing kisser he was, no one ever really compared. This lead her mind to wander about what else he was beyond compare at, and suddenly realised that his hands were cupping her breasts underneath her shirt, the thin bra the only thing between them at that point. As though he was reading her mind he pulled his lips away from hers and began to kiss and suck down her neck towards her collarbone, a plethora of skin exposed in the someone low-cut dress she was wearing. He tasted her perfume, and he decided he liked the taste of the old Rory better. This new taste was much more manufactured. That's when his head cleared enough to realised that Rory was working her way down the buttons of his dress shirt, her hands a little uneasy due to the amount she'd had to drink. Upon fumbling for much too long with the third button, Rory suddenly came to her sense.

"Jess… oh god!" She all but screeched. Jess jumped back in shock as he saw tears beginning to form.

"Rory?"

"Logan..." She slumped down on the wall and began to cry in earnest. Jess sat next to her and put his head in his hands. How could he have forgotten about her boyfriend? Sure Rory had said something about 'taking some time' but that meant they were still together.

"Fuck. Rory, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"I know. I'm sorry Jess."

"Don't be. That was all me."

"It wasn't _all _you. I was definitely a willing participant."

"We're both really drunk."

"Yep."

"So… we could blame it on slutty drunk Jess?" He suggested, making her let out a watery laugh.

"Hell, we're so drunk right now we probably won't remember it in the morning."

"That's the spirit! Wait, are you implying that I'm forgettable?"

"You're a lot of things Jess, but forgettable isn't one of them. Unforgettable, probably." Rory flinched when she said it. This was the man she'd left without any notice, who was not her boyfriend and she was saying _this_? If anything it was hurting him.

"While we're doing this whole 'honesty because we won't remember it in the morning' thing, can I ask you something?"

"I guess."

"Do you love him?"

"Logan?"

"Yeah."

"I think… either I love him or I love the idea of being in love with him. Those two things can be so similar, you know?"

"Not at all. Love is a foreign and confusing subject for me."

"You've never been in love?"

"We both know that isn't true, Rory. It's probably safe to say that I haven't stopped being in love for a few years. Have we hit the sore spot of the topic where we change the subject yet?"

"I think we just got there."

"Good thing neither of us will remember this in the morning."

"Yeah." Though really, Rory wasn't quite so sure she wanted to forget.

* * *

><p><strong>Hi Rory! What have you been up to? If you don't like this chapter, blame slutty drunk Jess. Which is my new favourite thing to say. But not out loud, because people will think I'm talking about myself and I'm not a slutty drunk. I'm a text everyone sort of person. I stole the entire Jess revelation speech from the show, don't judge me. Everything I skipped involving dinner was what happened in the episode. <strong>

**Thanks for reading and reviewing! You haven't reviewed yet, you say? Well fine! No more slutty drunk Jess for you! Hey, I'm just in time for the third Christmas of the story if you want it! **


	17. Listen to the Fireplace Roar

**Merry Christmas everyone! I love this season so much, but probably for completely different reasons than most of you. I love swimming in my pool on Christmas Day, having a barbeque on Boxing Day, the sweating as my mother cooks us a roast dinner in forty degree heat. The TV specials, the marathons (THERE'S A FREAKING GILMORE GIRLS MARATHON AIRING THIS CHRISTMAS WOO!) and just the fun feeling of togetherness. So whatever you believe in or whatever you celebrate I hope you enjoy the time off from work/school/whatever and just enjoy yourselves! To celebrate the song for this chapter is 'Baby It's Cold Outside'. No real reason other than it's not overplayed like most other Christmas songs. **

**Disclaimer: It would be a Christmas miracle if I owned anything.**

Listen to the Fireplace Roar

"Hey sweetie, remember how your dear sweet mother let you sleep in last Christmas?"

"Yes…"

"Hope you didn't get too used to it, missy! I've got a bucket full of baubles here and I'm not afraid to use them!"

"What time is it?"

"Time to get your butt out of bed!"

It was early Christmas morning at the Gilmore house once more. There were subtle differences, like the expansion of most of the place to make room for Luke and whatever family he and Lorelai wanted to have. A mattress sat on Rory's floor ready for April, Luke's recently discovered daughter, who would be staying for a few days after the holiday. Paul Anka was asleep on it currently, his legs running wildly as he dreamt about something probably involving chasing cats.

"Did you at least wake Luke up too?"

"Please, Luke was out of bed at five and left for the diner half an hour ago. He started laughing about waking Jess up and making him work or something, so I don't think he was exactly quite awake. Speaking of which, you're okay with the whole Jess thing?" Lorelai asked her daughter, who was now sort of sitting up and semi-alert. She plopped down on the foot of the bed and started idly throwing her handful of Christmas decorations at her.

"The Jess thing? You mean him joining us for- can you please stop hitting me with those! I'm awake! Jess joining us for breakfast? Why wouldn't it be okay?"

"You guys are collecting some pretty sweet baggage. Seriously, give you ten more years and you'll be approaching the level of Christopher and me."

"Jess is the reason I came to my senses and went back to Yale, remember?"

"I remember, and the hugs are forthcoming. Then you'll throw out everything else you've been saying all week: 'He wrote a book, he owns his own company, he's nearly got his associate's degree!'" Lorelai put on her best high-pitched squeaky voice to impersonate her daughter. "All I'm saying is that you guys didn't have the best closure, and maybe there's a part of you that still has feelings for him."

"Mom, I-" But she was interrupted by the aggravating chirp of her phone, the early hour making it seem like torture.

"You get that, I'll go and pick out a movie."

"Hello?" Rory answered as she flipped open the phone. The number was blocked.

"Hey Ace."

"Logan, hey! Merry Christmas!" Rory spouted enthusiastically, both pleasantly surprised and downright confused at her boyfriend calling her this early. Logan tended to have trouble functioning before noon. She smiled as she thought about the thoughtful gifts he'd all but attacked her with during their month apart, then the eventual reconciliation moment when he defended her from one of Paris' moments of Yale Daily News editor craziness. Still, he'd been oddly quiet the last week.

"What are you doing?"

"Besides barely being awake? Christmas stuff. You?"

"Driving towards Stars Hollow… I hope you don't mind?"

"You're coming here? For Christmas? Wow!"

"Nothing would make me happier than spending this day with my beautiful girlfriend. Plus you can show me around the place."

"Okay, do you want to meet me and mom at Luke's? It's in the centre of town, you can't miss it."

"I should be there in a few hours; I've just left New York."

The mention of New York made Rory suddenly frightened. Lorelai wouldn't mind spending Christmas breakfast with Logan, and Luke would keep quiet, but there was the problem of Jess…

"Okay but I need you to know something: Jess is going to be there."

"The wannabe Hemmingway? Why the hell would he be there?"

"He's Luke's nephew. Just… be nice, okay?"

"I'll try. I can't promise but I can try."

"I think the two of you would really get along."

"Maybe when hell freezes over. Look I've gotta go, something about driving on a freeway on my cell phone doesn't seem exactly safe. See you soon, Ace."

"Bye Logan."

Almost two hours and one Sesame Street Christmas special later Rory and Lorelai drove to Luke's, both anxious about Logan. Rory's had more to do with introducing him to the town and the obvious Jess problem, while Lorelai was trying to figure out how to avoid yelling at her daughter's boyfriend. When they'd first met (even excluding walking in on him and Rory kissing) he'd rubbed her the wrong way, and everything he'd done since seemed to reaffirm this initial hunch. Not only did he seem to be bad for his daughter, he'd been a jerk to Jess. Lorelai knew that Jess would attack when provoked, but he was so much calmer and adult these days that it probably meant Logan had been a real dick. She didn't like the idea of people being cruel to that boy, which she figured was some kind of aunt related feelings. After all, they'd practically be relatives by the time she and Luke got married. Then you had the fact that Logan had cheated on Rory during their stint apart. In summary, Lorelai was not happy about having to see Logan.

"That's Logan's car right there." Rory pointed out the Porsche.

"Of course he drives a Porsche."

"Sorry." Rory said sheepishly, before getting out of the car and hugging her boyfriend.

"This place looks like a holiday card." Logan chuckled.

"It does have that effect in winter. Come on, let's go inside. I bet mom is already begging Luke for Christmas pancakes!"

"Which are different from normal pancakes how?"

"They're red and green!"

The table was laid out as it was every year, with various breakfast foods that tasted as good as they looked. Luke was currently carrying a plate of bacon as the couple sat down, Logan deciding to sit at Rory's side. This bugged her as she preferred when he sat opposite her (a lesson from her first post-Jess dating experience) but she didn't want to push the subject. Lorelai sat on the other side of the table and Luke next to her, with only the seat on the end remaining empty. This was soon rectified when Jess emerged from the kitchen with a big platter of colourful pancakes.

"Morning Lorelai, Rory… Logan." He added in the least hostile voice he could manage. Logan acknowledged him with a nod and the group settled in to eat. They sat in not quite comfortable silence for a few minutes before Rory decided to speak.

"Jess, I read your book… about six times." Rory said as she buttered some toast. For some reason this admission made her blush slightly. Jess looked up from his pancake and stared at her, his face instantly losing its hardened edge it gained when he'd seen the blonde idiot walk in.

"What did you think? I feel like I'd change everything."

"It's brilliant. I've never read anything like it. It's just so… you."

"Which is a good thing, I'm guessing?" Jess asked easily, enjoying the way Logan's hands clenched on the table as he seemed somewhat threatened by the easy conversation between the exes.

"It's definitely good to read." Rory answered as she focused on her food, which made Jess think that she had an alternate answer to that question but keeping the peace was her main prerogative.

"We've got this guy that we're working with at the moment, and I think he's a complete nutjob. He prefers to write in overcomplicated flowery paragraphs rather than getting to the point. I reckon you'd love him."

"Let me know when you've got it done and I will for sure. If you hate him he must be good."

"You just said you liked my book!"

"Your taste in literature still sucks."

"My book _is _my taste in literature."

"No it's not, it's not like anything you like to read. That's why you wrote it. You didn't want to be a Kerouac or Hemmingway clone, so you wrote as far away from their respective styles as possible."

"Huh. Guess I didn't think of it like that."

"You don't think like a journalist."

"Nope. Congrats on the Yale Daily News editor thing, by the way."

"You know about that?"

"Your mom hasn't shut up about it."

"I have too!" Lorelai spoke up, and suddenly the spell cast over Rory and Jess ended. They weren't the only two people in the room speaking passionately about their shared love of books, there were three other people currently situated at the table. One of which happened to be Rory's infuriated boyfriend. Rory noticed his clenched fists and put her hand over his, which seemed to relax him a little, though he was still tense.

"I've only been here two days and you've mentioned it to me at least seven times. Not to mention overhearing you telling Kirk, Babette, Miss Patty, the guy that cuts your keys…"

"Zip it, nephew."

"Sorry, _Aunt _Lorelai."

"Ick, don't call me that! Truce?"

"Do we have to do the thing with our pinkies?"

"A pinkie swear is an ancient and noble tradition, started by Samuel Pinkie in-"

"Who wants coffee?" Luke asked suddenly, his head hurting from trying to keep up with whatever was happening. The blonde guy he saw mauling Rory a few months back was looking as though he was about two minutes from pouncing like a lion, Lorelai and Jess had entered that place where logic didn't have a place and Rory was just looking confused. He'd gotten used to his nephew's continuing and adding to his fiancé's 'bits', but Rory hadn't been around when they'd become, for lack of a better word, friends.

"Do they do this a lot, Luke?" She asked with a small smile. She'd always known that her mom and Jess would get along, but it was sort of annoying her that Logan was making nowhere near the effort to get to know her most important family members. He got along with Richard and Emily fine, but it was with her mother and her future stepfather that he needed to bond. But here he was, bonding opportunities flying, and he was letting Jess get to him.

"Sometimes I tell them they should be the ones getting married."

"Which Lorelai wittily responds to with…" Jess started, knowing the older woman would finish whatever his thoughts were.

"Luke's butt is much cuter!"

"Mom, gross!"

"Would you rather I say that Jess had the cuter-"

"And this conversation is finished." Jess said as he tried to contain a smirk. It was like this every time he came to visit Stars Hollow, and as much as he'd deny until the day he died he actually enjoyed it. Not that he visited all that often, with business getting insane after his book was reviewed on some massive online blog. He had to come home from his attempt at selling off his book earlier than expected, and Matthew had to cancel visiting his family. To say they were rushed off their feet would be an understatement, so trip to Luke's were minimal. That and he continued to be propositioned by Tiffany.

Logan knew that this entire thing was making him confused and angry. His girlfriend was practically flirting with some other guy right in front of him, her mother was acting like he wasn't even there because she was too busy ranting with the very same guy, and then there was some other man in a hat and checked shirt who seemed too scared to talk. He couldn't remember his name, but he knew it began with the letter L. Probably. His internal monologue of ranting was interrupted when he heard his message tone. He flipped the phone open and grinned.

"I'm sorry Ace, but it looks like I need to go."

"Who's it from?" Rory asked, referring to the message.

"Oh… my dad, he wants me to-"

"Can I see it?"

"Why would you want to see a message from my dad?"

With dexterity she didn't know she possessed Rory stole the phone right from his hands. She read the message once, twice, not really sure that she was actually reading it correctly. Her face changed from genuine curiosity to barely controlled fury in an instant.

"I think we should probably talk outside." Rory said through gritted teeth. As she led a forlorn looking Logan away from the table and into a nearby alley, she remembered a very similar situation.

_Rory woke the morning (well, afternoon) after the disaster that featured herself, Jess and Logan in one of the most awkward and testosterone-fuelled dinners in history. Her head felt like a bunch of mice were kicking her brain around, but the vivid memories still flooded to her. Logan drinking heavily, nearly crying when Jess pointed out everything wrong in her life, the girls who approached him as they did shots and tried to get him to ditch his 'girlfriend', the feel of Jess' lips on hers…_

_Sitting up groggily she poured about half a pot of coffee down her throat and showered, forming an apology to Logan in her head. She figured once she apologised profusely he would return it with his own admission of guilt and she could finally get the feeling of Jess' lips out of her mind. Half an hour and the remainder of the coffee later she was prepared with a speech and alternate options in case Logan didn't react how she imagined in her head._

_His apartment was unlocked, which was unusual, but Rory was too busy thinking up alternate ways to get Logan to admit to being in the wrong. Opening the door she found one of the worst scenes imaginable. Logan was in bed with some blonde woman, and she could tell that they probably weren't playing Twister._

_Suddenly none of her planned speeches seemed exactly right._

"So is it the same girl or what?" Rory managed to hiss, though she felt much more like yelling. The people of Stars Hollow were known for their love of gossip and she didn't want to give them anything to cluck about.

"Rory, let me explain…"

"Well isn't that such a cliché response? I can't believe you're doing this to me again!"

"Again? We were on a break last time…"

"Bullshit!"

"What?"

"Yeah, I can swear. I'm not some naïve little girl who waits diligently at home for her stupid, lying, cheating assface boyfriend to come home. Swearing is something I do!"

"You can't just come out here and yell at me when you're in there fluttering your eyelashes at your ex-boyfriend!"

"Jess? We're friends! He's the reason I went back to Yale."

"And I'm the reason you dropped out. Whatever, you did everything yourself."

"That's not what I'm saying!"

"What are you saying then?"

"Why the hell did you just get a message that read '_ditch the girlfriend and come play with me_'. With a winking face like she's fifteen or something! Oh god, she's not fifteen is she?"

"She's… complicated."

"Not anymore!"

"What do you mean?"

"What the hell do you think I mean, Logan? I'm done. I'm finished, I'm out, and done with you and all the crap you've put me through in the last month."

"Ace, come on… she means nothing to me. I lo-"

"Don't say it! It's Christmas Day, you're leaving me to be with _her_, you can't use those words and think that everything's going to be okay!"

"Okay. Just, don't be unhappy."

"You're cheating on me and you're telling me to be happy? I'll see what I can do." She spat at him.

"You know what I mean. If he makes you happy then go for it. I thought I really did love you, Ace. But maybe it's not enough."

"You're killing me with how easy you're making this, you ass. Got any salt to rub into this?"

"Whatever." And without another word he left her alone and drove off, far away from Stars Hollow and Rory for what would most likely be the last time. The very thought made Rory collapse and burst into tears.

"The guy's a jerk." Jess said as he walked towards her.

"Tell me about it." Rory said between sniffles.

"He left his jacket inside; you could set it on fire or something."

"That jacket's probably worth more than my car."

"All the more reason."

"I hate you, Jess."

"Okay."

"You're not even going to ask me why?"

"I could hazard a guess. Blonde dick doesn't like me, you said something nice and he dumped you."

"Not even close."

"He hates Stars Hollow?"

"Nope."

"You told him his Porsche was compensating for something?"

"I broke up with him."

"Huh. And you hate me because…"

"Two reasons. One, he cheated on me the night we went and got drunk."

"Which is completely my fault." Jess said sarcastically.

"It's your fault I felt guilty enough to go and apologise to him and found him with some trampy blonde socialite! Who I'm pretty sure sent that damn message today."

"So it wasn't a one-time thing?"

"When is it ever?"

"So, reason number two?" Jess said to swerve her off this specific topic. He knew this was probably the last thing she wanted to talk about.

"All my boyfriends hate you!" Rory blurted. She was going to skate around the topic but it seems her mind wasn't agreeing with her.

"And that's my fault?"

"I don't know… maybe? Or maybe it's my fault."

"Why would it be your fault?" Jess asked softly, and as soon as he said it he was sure he knew the answer. Rory looked up at him for the first time and he saw her blue eyes glistening with tears. All he wanted to do was wipe all of them away and tell her everything would be fine. Hold her tight and kiss away any feeling she had that was negative. Then she was looking at him as though that was all she wanted as well, and he moved his hand to swipe a stray hair from her face.

"Hey you two, Luke's just opened the diner and everyone's running in. I told him to not open on Christmas but did he listen?"

"I'm guessing not?" Jess retorted, silently cursing Lorelai for interrupting whatever moment they were having.

Jess would later reflect that this was probably a good thing, as Rory was in a vulnerable place and was still probably in love with Logan. Still, it didn't stop him from feeling like he'd lost his one chance with her, and from the way it made him feel he could tell that he was nowhere near getting over her. It made for a melancholy Christmas to say the least.

* * *

><p><strong>Review, yes? That is all. Thanks for reading!<strong>


	18. With You

**So, does anyone feel like trading hemispheres? Summer's just decided to pop in to say hello (a month late, I might add) and I miss cold. It's really hard to write on a laptop when it's 35+ degrees (95 to you crazy Fahrenheit people) and probably warmer in my room because my room is stupid. Sorry for the complaining but it's more an apology for any long absences without me updating this. **

**This chapter is… well, I hope you like it. That's all. Song is 'You' by the band Framing Hanley, and is the companion piece to 'Photographs and Gasoline'. As I mentioned before they were the two songs that put this idea into my head, so check them out maybe? **

**Oh oh OH before I forget let me thank you all for so many awesome reviews! Since the last chapter was posted I've gotten heaps, thank you so much! They're all like smiling beacons of happiness.**

**Disclaimer: Still no.**

With You

"You could pretend to be really sick!"

"Why don't _you _pretend to be really sick?"

"Because I'll need a doctor's note to show my mother. You're the beautiful granddaughter who-"

"Recently spat in the face of everything they've ever done for me?"

"Touché. It's not fair though, why aren't you being dragged to join Mr and Mrs Hitler?"

"Because this is a couple's retreat to Martha's Vineyard for Valentine's Day. Being single as I am, I'm afraid it would be crazy for me to join you and Luke accompanying grandma and grandpa."

"You're going to spend the entire weekend organising my house when I'm not looking, aren't you?"

"You've gotten really lazy without my supervision."

"You need a boyfriend."

"Mom!"

"What, it's not like I said you needed to get laid."

"Mom!"

"Okay, looks like I did say that. Oh well, have fun organising my sock drawer while your poor mother descends into the second circle of hell."

"Isn't that lust?"

"You think I read that play?"

Soon after Lorelai's insane plots to get herself out of a weekend away with her parents she had left to get Luke. Rory just stared at the now empty house and sighed. Her weekends were getting far too dull now that she was single with no intent of dating anyone for a long time, if ever. Driving to Stars Hollow she passed a church, and for a moment she considered running inside and asking for the nearest convent. Becoming a nun seemed like a decent alternative to buying a cat (she also drove past a pet store) but she figured being religious probably helped with that particular vocation.

Suddenly she sprung up as a great idea had jumped into her head. She didn't need a job as a nun, she just needed a job. Something to occupy her time with in between classes. She had that internship in Stamford that was amazing (despite leading to her momentary insanity) and something similar would be perfect. Maybe not even something similar, but something exactly the same…

* * *

><p>Jess Mariano was having a grumbling day. Usually he would pay as much attention to customers as he would a bothersome fly, but today they seemed much less like the harmless insect and much more mosquito-like. There were too many of them, they seemed to have come in couples, and they all seemed to want his help all at once.<p>

"Hey, do you know that one book by that guy? His take on existentialism in England seems unique." Some idiot asked him as he all but jumped in front of him.

"Have you tried Google? With a solid description like that he's bound to show up." Jess quipped before he could stop himself. This is why Matthew or Sara dealt with people and kept him locked in the back room editing or writing until they closed. Unfortunately they had decided the weekend being associated with Valentine's Day was the perfect time to be found making out in a storage closet and were now out on an actual date at Jess' insistence. He didn't know that their store was going to become the hotspot of horny post-college faux-intellectuals trying to make a good impression on their equally annoying dates so they could get some.

"No need to be such an ass."

"Or for you to act like you have a clue what you're talking about. Yet, here we are."

"Look, I don't have to take this crap from some stupid kid that works at a bookstore. The only reason I'm here is because my girlfriend wanted to meet some Mariano guy who wrote a book or some shit. Is he here?"

"Afraid not."

"Do you know when he'll be back?"

"Nope."

"Probably off getting drunk in the middle of the day like all writers."

"Sounds about right."

The guy just rolled his eyes and walked off muttering about the stupidity of young people, which Jess found moderately hilarious considering the guy couldn't be much older than twenty-five.

"Jess! There's a spider in the bathroom!" A shrill voice shrieked from upstairs.

"God woman, what do you want me to do about it?" He shouted back, earning some strange looks from patrons.

"Uh, kill it!"

"I'm a bit busy down here!"

"I'll trade you!"

"What?"

"You come up here and kill this genetic freak of a spider and I'll deal with the people you've probably terrorised anyway!"

"Promise?" He asked sceptically before bounding upstairs, hardly daring to believe his good luck in getting out of talking to the idiots trying to get laid. He opened the door of the apartment to find Lane Kim standing with her shoe in her hand, obviously about to go and finish the job if he declined to help.

"You're the best!" She squealed, before pulling him into a hug and flouncing off downstairs. She'd been staying with Jess for the better part of a week, the result of a catastrophic fight with Zack and the apparent rupture of her band. According to her she just ended up at the bus station and the only thing leaving that late in the night was heading to Stamford, so she figured visiting Jess to be a viable option. Not that he complained: she had started to tidy up the place and was pretty quiet, so it was like living with an efficient, helpful pet of some sort.

After facing the beast of a spider (what had it been eating to get so huge?) and pouring himself some coffee, Jess decided to wander downstairs to check up on things. He did not expect the place to be deserted and Lane nowhere to be seen. But that was nothing compared to the person who was browsing through the bookshelves.

"Can I help you, Rory?" He asked, not unkindly. It was good to see her, in a twisted 'this is only going to hurt' type way. They'd been actually speaking lately, which was good, and they frequently emailed each other with book and movie suggestions or criticisms.

"Jess!" She looked up at him and smiled, "Sorry for the lack of traffic in here, Zack coerced me into bringing him and one thing lead to another and… I think Lane and Zack are getting married!"

"Seriously?" Jess was shocked. Considering they had been playing darts with his picture the night before, he was impressed with Lane's ability to forgive and forget when it came to Zack.

"A proposal definitely occurred, yes."

"Wow, and to think we spent the last week bad-mouthing the guy as much as possible." Rory laughed a little at this, imagining late night confessions between her best friend and Jess. She figured at some point with college and working together the two had become pretty good friends. In fact she was sort of hurt that Lane ran to Jess instead of her when everything with Zack happened. Still, she hadn't been the best person ask for romantic advice lately, not with her half-baked plans of becoming a nun or cat lady.

"She loves him; I'm guessing forgiveness comes easily in that case." Rory said in a voice that sounded much wiser than it was. Jess noticed the shift in conversation and it startled him. Perhaps it was time for some closure between the two. If Lane was getting married to the guy she'd called every name under the sun, he supposed it might be possible for him and Rory to get over all of their issues.

"Did you forgive Logan?" Rather than admonish him for his lack of decorum, Rory just shrugged.

"I haven't seen him since I went and got some of my stuff from his apartment. Apparently he came one night I was in Stars Hollow, and Paris answered."

"I almost feel sorry for the guy."

"He's an asshat." Rory said simply, causing Jess to laugh. "What?"

"That's exactly what Lane said."

"She's smart, that Lane."

"Even when you don't want her to be." Rory looked confused by this, but Jess didn't elaborate further. A silence fell between the two as Jess read her instincts correctly and started a pot of coffee. They both sat at opposite ends of a rather comfortable blue couch that Matthew had found on the street and stared into the distance.

"I considered becoming a nun today." Rory said suddenly. Jess couldn't help it: he burst out laughing.

"Shouldn't you be religious for that particular vocation?"

"Hey! I said I only considered it!"

"Why?"

"Because men are stupid."

"You wound me. Women are equally as stupid as men." He countered.

"That's a broad generalisation."

"And what you said wasn't?"

"Fine: the men in my life are stupid. Better?"

"Not really. But explain if you want." Jess said with a small tone of bitterness. He knew where she was going with this, but for all his wanting to air out their issues he didn't want it ending in a fight that the two couldn't recover from. This seemed to be the road he was taking, but he couldn't help but be a passenger to whatever she was driving them towards.

"All my dad ever did was break promises, all my first boyfriend did was try to own me, all my second boyfriend did was run away when things got too tough and all my third-"

"You're really going to accuse me of running away? Let's not forget a little thing that happened at the Dragonfly, which was all very much _you_ running away." He interrupted, pissed at her for accusing him of something that was entirely her fault.

"I meant when we were dating! You never told me anything, you brushed me off when I was only trying to help and I felt so helpless! All I ever wanted to do was be there for you!"

"I was barely eighteen, Rory! I was stupid, and I can't excuse the crap I did then but I've changed so much since then and you're still throwing it back in my face!" He was standing with his hands clenched now, and Rory had started pacing at some point.

"I know! Don't you think I know? As for what I've done, don't you think I've relived that night in my mind a thousand times over? What I should have said, or done differently."

"The answer better be everything."

"Pretty much. What would you have done if I'd told you I was going to Europe with my grandmother?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing as in…"

"Visited my dad, of course, but… I was in love with you and if you'd told me what was going on I would've understood. I hate that you thought I wouldn't understand."

"Jess, I… I'm so sorry. I know it's late coming and probably isn't worth anything to you but I'm so, so sorry. I handled everything horribly and I never wanted to hurt you."

"I'm sorry too."

"What for?"

"Anything I've ever done that hurt you? I don't know, pick something."

"The amount I wanted to punch you for the whole Tiffany thing?"

"Yeah, I feel like punching myself for that too."

"Why her?"

"Why not?"

"Seriously Jess."

"She was there, I was there, I wanted to get drunk and forget about you." Jess answered honestly, though his choice in words hurt Rory. She noticed they were barely standing a foot apart, and she used this to her advantage. With strength she didn't know she possessed, she slapped him across the face. Hard. Then she felt tears pouring down her face, which she knew would lead to some grade-A rambling.

"You jerk! You… asshole! I was crying myself to sleep every night over you and you were off whoring around with the Californian equivalent of… ugh I'm so stupidly upset right now I can't even think of a clever comparison!"

Jess' first instinct was to comfort her, but the stinging on his cheek told him otherwise. Instead he opted to grab her by the shoulders, a feat that caused her to look up into his eyes. Fury met with fear and before they knew it they were kissing, fiercely and passionately, their bodies closing the gap between them as they were a mess of mouths, teeth and tongues. Hands were grabbing wildly at whatever they could find as Rory found herself wrapping her legs around his waist and he pushed her back against the wall, the added support allowing for more exploration of forgotten tastes, Jess' mouth reacquainting itself with certain sensitive areas around her neck and collarbone.

"Bed?" He whispered huskily, causing a chill to run down her spine. She shook her head vigorously.

"Wall." She countered.

"Couch?" He compromised, before using the majority of his strength to move them both towards the couch in question. She wasn't heavy by normal standards; he just wasn't the biggest or strongest guy. In a few minutes he doubted either of them would have the strength to stand, let alone support the other. Rory soon interrupted his train of thought as she made quick work of his pants, before he did the same with the majority of her clothes. In no time it all they were completely oblivious to the world, the only thing on either of their minds the touch or feeling of the other, the tender yet passionate way Jess treated her, the feeling of sweaty skin on skin as they…

"Oh my god!" Lane and Zack stood in the doorway, both trying to avert their gaze while at the same time morbidly fascinated with the situation they had just walked in on. Lane was grateful that Rory had kept her bra on while Jess' pants covered most of… well, everything else. "There's a whole apartment upstairs, you know!"

Rory was blushing the brightest shade of red Jess had ever seen, while he himself turned a light shade of pink. Though he was finding this situation more amusing than embarrassing, he knew Rory didn't feel the same way.

"You guys mind waiting outside for a second? I mean, I could stand up right now and-"

"We're going! But no more funny business!" Lane grabbed Zack by the arm and pulled him from the store. Jess pulled himself away from Rory, who had turned into a mute it seemed.

"There is no way in hell anything I ever do will be worse than that," She spoke finally.

"Really, it was that terrible? Should we practice some more?" He teased as he tried to find his shirt.

"Jess! Were you brain-dead for a while? Someone just walked in on us… oh my god, we just…"

"In mature adult circles, they describe what we were doing as having sex."

"My best friend walked in on us naked, this isn't the time for jokes!"

"At least it wasn't Lorelai."

"Jess… what are we doing?"

"Getting dressed?"

"No, I mean… what the hell just happened?"

"I could draw you a diagram if you like." He smirked with one eyebrow raised, the look that made Rory feel uncomfortably warm. He poured them both coffee from the still-steaming pot and she smiled up at him shyly as he handed one to her.

"The offer is appreciated but I think I get the logistics. I forgot how good you were." Rory added simply with a mischievous smirk, which caused Jess to splutter on the sip of coffee he'd just taken.

"The best?"

"Beyond comparison."

"Thank you for the contribution to my ego." He replied simply, as though the two were merely discussing the weather.

"You earned it."

"Want me to earn it some more?" He asked simply as he brushed a piece of hair from her face, stroking her cheek in a loving gesture that polarised the overall dirtiness of their conversation. Rory didn't flinch at his touch, but rather took her own hand and trailed a finger along the small red mark that had developed where she slapped him.

"Don't you think we should talk?" She said finally, snapping them both out of their reveries of examining the other's face.

"We just did. Sure it was more shouting and physical violence, but the point got through in the end. I'm willing to forgive you as long as you can trust me and do the same."

"But we're different people, how do we know if this will work?"

"I think the fact that we've changed is exactly the reason it will work. We won't know for sure if we don't try. Stop thinking about it and just jump in."

"I can't be as impulsive as you, Jess."

"Then let me do the impulsiveness for both of us." He said with a shrug, before holding her face in both his hands and kissing her sweetly. Rory smiled as the long-dormant vomiting creatures in her stomach flared up again, screaming at her to push boundaries, to be with the man in front of her in ways she remembered all too vividly.

"Lane and Zack are outside."

"So?"

"Let's go have dinner with them and then decide if I feel like stroking your ego tonight… and don't say what you're thinking!"

"Don't use the word 'stroking'!" Jess countered as Rory tried to stand up, but Jess pulled her by the waist onto his lap. She responded by kissing him firmly, yet chastely, before standing up again.

"I'm hungry."

"You realise this counts as a double date on the weekend of Valentine's Day, which is possibly the cheesiest and couple-related thing we could manage to do. Technically we haven't even had the 'what are we doing' talk."

"We just did. You said we were having sex, and I'm saying we're having dinner. That's what we're doing."

"Sex then dinner?" He asked eagerly.

"Dinner and then it depends on how well-behaved you are as to what happens next."

"I'll be a model citizen."

"Oh that's a shame, I only put out for the bad boys." She said with a wink, laughing internally when his jaw nearly hit the floor.

"I can't believe I just heard Rory Gilmore say 'put out'. This must be some bizarre dream."

"Can I use your shower?"

"Yep, definitely dreaming."

"You're not invited."

"Damn, I woke up. Upstairs, take a right and it's the second door."

"Great! I'll just go get some clothes from my car and I'll be right back."

"You live in your car or something?"

"I had a job interview today, of sorts."

"You nail it?"

"Well I'm working weekends at the Stamford Gazette, so yes?"

"Proud of you, Ror." Jess said quietly, and Rory felt her heart melt at the warmth and genuine pride he had on his face. He was so much more expressive than ever, and it made her feel like she understood him to some extent. She was like an open book with her feelings, so it was good to level the playing ground a little.

"You're just being sweet so I forget about dinner and jump you."

"Is it working?"

"We're going in fifteen minutes. Wear something nice."

* * *

><p>"That was seriously an option for a job interview?" Jess asked incredulously as Rory stepped out of the bathroom in a figure hugging, off the shoulder red dress. She'd paired it with impossibly high black heels, which upset Jess as he'd be shorter than his date this evening. Still, he couldn't stop staring at her legs and the curves of her body, knowing that if she turned up on his doorstep asking for a job wearing <em>that<em>, he'd give it to her in a heartbeat. Rory merely blushed a little at his intense gaze as his eyes roamed up and down her body, and shrugged.

"It was in my car. Lane and Zack are at this Italian place a block away."

"Petrelli's? Pretty good place. They can enjoy it while we get naked."

"Enough with the one track mind! Do you think I got all dressed up just so you could undress me?"

"Yes is the wrong answer, right?"

"Very good. You don't hear me being all 'oh wow, Jess is wearing that black button up shirt I like so much, I wonder if he's wearing anything underneath it'. Self-control, baby."

"You do look beautiful by the way." Jess added with a hint of shyness. Rory grinned at him and kissed his cheek before grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the apartment. As soon as they were out on the street Jess pulled her closer by putting his hand at her waist, and the two walked to the restaurant in comfortable silence.

Once inside they were met by the waving arm of Lane who was seated across from Zack, who seemingly had been holding his fiancé's hand before she decided to flail it around. Rory seemed almost as equally excited as she ran towards her friend and pulled her into a long hug full of girlish squeals.

"You'll be my maid of honour, right?" Lane asked the second they were all seated again.

"I can't believe you have to ask!" Rory replied with the biggest smile on her face.

"How about you Jess? You up to being a bridesmaid?"

"I… what?"

"Zack's got Brian and his sister Kimberly on his side, and you're one of my best friends. We could give it a more macho name like man of honour or bridesdude if you like."

"Bridesdude?"

"Dude, bridesdude sounds like a movie. Jess man, you're a writer. Write it!" Zack said with a grin almost as wide as Lane's.

"I'll see if I can fit in the screenplay to 'Bridesdudes' somewhere." Jess smirked. "I'll be there, but I'm not wearing a dress."

The night was spent in pleasant company as Jess did his best to get along with Zack for both of the girls' sake. Though he felt like Lane could do better she obviously saw something in the absent-minded singer so he would tolerate him until he was told not to. The other raging theme of the night was Jess and Rory's inability to keep their hands off each other. It started as an innocent bump of legs, followed by Rory's entirely intentional foot running up and down his leg. Soon hands were on thighs and it was getting far too hard to hide it from the couple they were dining with. However in between dinner and dessert Rory didn't touch him, merely texting several people with her phone instead. That was when he felt the vibrating in his pocket indicating a new message.

_I'm going to destroy that shirt you're wearing_.

Jess looked up at Rory who was the very picture of coyness. Rolling his eyes, he figured two could play at this game.

_That's nothing compared to what I have planned. You won't be able to walk for a week. _

There was a small silence as Rory read his text and looked impassive. Instead she typed quickly and hit send almost immediately as beginning her message.

_Pay the bill._

"Lane, you're okay to drive Rory's car home?"

"Definitely. Get her home before Lorelai gets back."

"I'll be fine, Lane." Rory said with a small roll of her eyes as Jess pulled out a few notes from his wallet. "But, uh, don't tell mom, or anyone for that matter, what you saw today."

"You really think I'm retelling that horror story to Lorelai?"

"I mean any of it. Me, Jess… nothing."

"Done."

"Okay good, we're leaving." Jess said as he stood up quickly and made his way out of the restaurant, Rory tagging along behind him. They moved a lot quicker than on the way there and before either of them knew it they were kicking the door closed in Jess' room as he unzipped her red dress and she tore several of the buttons of the black shirt.

"Looks like we're both getting what we wanted." Rory panted as Jess trailed kisses down her stomach.

"Only if this means we're together. Like really together. No running or Europe or Tiffany's. You. Me. Us." Jess said, suddenly serious. Rory had never heard a one syllable word sound so huge. Us. And yet, it was just right.

"We're finally ready."

* * *

><p><strong>I wanted to kill this chapter. Cut it up into pieces and feed it to its wife and children. It just didn't want to be written! But it's here now and I'm fairly happy with it. Watching awesome tennis and seeing Gilmore Girls trend on Twitter this week spurred me to finish. Hope you like it, if not… review and say why not! Review regardless! Oh and if you haven't you should check out my recent(ish) one-shot Apology. It's Jess-centric with some fun Lorelai bits. Thanks!<strong>


	19. Set the Tone

**We're due for a fluff piece, aren't we? Even if you answered no, you're wrong. Ergo, fluff. Hope you enjoy it and be sure to see a dentist after reading. Song of the chapter has been stuck in my head all week. It's 'Like I Love You' by Justin Timberlake. Probably completely unrelated but it's a great, sexy song and it made me want to write. Some of the lines work, maybe…**

**Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the never-to-be-written screenplay to 'Bridesdudes' **

Set the Tone

"My long-lost daughter, you've returned! And with food from Al's!" Lorelai screamed as she lunged at Rory, who was very careful not to dent their dinner. After spending a large portion of Sunday with Jess she decided to go straight home, and therefore missed hanging out with her mother that night. Now, after almost a week of not hearing the end of it, she was spending Friday night in Stars Hollow with a lot of terrible food and a movie that was probably equally as bad. Naturally Luke had decided to stay at the diner and give them female bonding time.

"Rory!" April yelled equally as loud from the living room, running up and giving her future stepsister a hug. When she first met the teenager that was apparently Luke's daughter, she hadn't seen the resemblance. April was nerdy and a little obnoxious. Then she heard the girl's rant on the killing power of fries. Clearly the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.

"I've got unidentifiable chicken-related dishes and Luke is sending April something healthy at some point tonight."

"Woo!" The younger girl replied before gesturing to the opened bags of candy on the coffee table. "I've discovered I really enjoy Skittles. I know they probably cause cancer or something but-"

"You're young, healthy and eating with the Gilmores. Warning labels have no place here." Lorelai advised sagely.

"Can I try some of the chicken?"

"She's going to be one of us!"

"Or at least a Luke-Lorelai hybrid." Rory agreed.

"No, a Luke-Lorelai hybrid would mean them having babies. Are you going to have babies?" April asked as she grabbed some plates, not used to the rule about eating takeout in the container.

"Yep, and then we're going to forget all about our daughters and focus all our love on little Marc Jacobs Gilmore-Danes."

"Mean!" April and Rory said in unison, before laughing hysterically. Lorelai rolled her eyes at the two as though they were being the crazy ones and started the movie.

"_Billy Madison_? Really, mom?"

"This was your favourite movie for ages."

"I was ten!"

"I've never seen it." April admitted humbly. Rory groaned as her mother squealed joyfully. One of their movie night rules stated that if any participating party had never seen the movie they were viewing, it would have to be watched in full no matter how terrible it was.

As soon as the three had settled into comfortable positions on the couch (or in April's case, the floor) there was a knock at the door. Per the rules of the house, Rory had to answer it as she was the closest. Grateful for the interruption to the movie she'd seen a few too many times, she stumbled her way in the dark and opened the door only to find Jess standing on the front porch.

"Delivery." He said with a smirk, only to gesture to the Luke's bag in his hand.

"Jess, what are you doing here?"

"What are you, deaf? I come bearing salad, though I feel like if I enter this house with lettuce I'll be struck by lightning or something."

"What are you doing in Stars Hollow?" She rephrased her question to avoid another smartass response. Unfortunately for her it seemed like he had a million of them.

"Are you kidding me? You think I'd miss Friday night in Stars Hollow? This place gets crazy after… yeah I've got nothing."

"Visiting your mother? Luke?"

"Good answers. Or I could just say that I wanted to see you."

"Shh." Rory hushed him, gesturing to the still gleefully-smiling Lorelai and an entranced April.

"Right, sorry. Forgot this whole dating thing was supposed to be covert ops."

"I don't want it to be, but… my mom likes Rory, she likes Jess. But Rory and Jess, the relationship? Not so much."

"That was because I was an ass to you. She knows how… un-ass-like I've become lately."

"True. Just let me subtly slip clues in, it'll work better."

"Deal. So, you busy right now?"

"It's a movie night."

"I repeat: busy right now?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Matt and Chris wanted to hit this pub near Truncheon; I figured you could join us."

"You drove to Stars Hollow to ask me to come to Stamford? There's this invention known as a phone."

"Yes, but I had a salad to deliver." Jess answered breezily as though he didn't just drive here to pick her up.

"I've got work in the morning."

"Which is in walking distance from my apartment."

"So you're just asking me out to have sex?" She asked with a small smile.

"Just pointing out facts, for all I care you can sleep on the couch."

"For all you care?"

"Trying to make myself sound like a gentleman, Ror."

"A gentleman would've offered to sleep on the couch and give me the bed."

"I'm no fucking gentleman."

"Language!"

"English?"

"You're an idiot."

"This salad's slowly dying and it's entirely your fault."

"I'll pack some clothes and then we can go. Can… can I stay Saturday night too?" She asked timidly, giving Jess something her mother called her 'Bambi eyes'.

"Okay but I'm warning you, the couch isn't very comfy."

"You won't let me bunk with you?"

"Okay, but I have a few rules about nudity. Namely, it should happen all the time."

"I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement." She said with a grin as she balled some of the fabric from his t-shirt in her hand. He just shook his head and gestured to the front door, which had remained opened as they exchanged words. Rory couldn't even remember walking outside.

"How are you explaining your absence?"

"Give me half an hour and I'll meet you at Luke's."

* * *

><p>About an hour and a half later the two pulled up in front of Jess' place of work and living in their respective cars, Rory opting to take hers to diffuse suspicion when she told her mother she'd completely forgotten about a major essay due in a week that she wanted to have nearly finished before work the next day. This was only half a lie, as Rory was having Jess look over the third draft of the assignment in question sometime this weekend.<p>

"We can walk from here." He said as she stepped out of the car in something black and short. He almost groaned when he noticed she was wearing heels. "Again with those things?"

"You don't like my shoes?" Rory asked with a fake pout. His insecurity about his height was an endearing quality to her, and she walked up to him and ruffled his hair a bit. Not surprisingly his hands instantly sprang up to fix whatever mess she'd made. She almost laughed at how distinctly Jess it was.

"People will start calling me the short guy with the tall, hot girlfriend."

"You have a tall, hot girlfriend? Do I have to beat her up?" Jess just rolled her eyes at her and grabbed her hand, pulling her in the right direction towards the bar. It was a fairly big place so the crowd was fairly sparse, and they were able to find Matthew and Chris easily at their booth.

"Rory Gilmore!" Chris spouted happily, clearly already rather intoxicated.

"Chris! I haven't seen you in ages! How are you?"

"Brilliant, my love, brilliant. You're looking exceptionally sexy tonight." He said with a mischievous grin, eyeing her from the other side of the booth. Jess coughed loudly and purposefully. "Yes Jess, you look sexy too." He replied with a roll of his eyes, making Matthew and a girl Rory could only assume was Sara break out into giggles.

"This actually does beg the question: how did you manage to get changed out of your sweats without your mother being suspicious?" Jess asked curiously, noticing that Rory had turned a little pink.

"I, uh… got changed in my car." She admitted.

"Oh to be a steering wheel!" Chris lamented, earning himself a punch to the arm from Jess. He knew Chris was just being a drunken idiot, and nothing would actually happen, but he and Rory were still so new that all of this was just a little crazy.

"Enough about me Chris, how's your cousin?" Rory asked as Jess poured them both beer from the jug the table had bought before their arrival.

"Princeton suits him, I guess. He told me to say hi to Mary for him." Chris added with a wink, turning Rory a bright shade of red.

"Mary?" Jess asked curiously. He knew Rory knew Chris' cousin, Tristan something, but he wasn't exactly sure what kind of friends they were.

"Guess that nickname doesn't get used outside of private schools, huh?" Chris asked. "It basically means that Rory here was as white as snow, as virtuous as um… someone who was a virgin, I guess?" He ended lamely, which made Rory groan and Jess burst out into laughter. She never wanted him to know that particular nickname as she knew the mocking would never cease.

"You might want to tell your cousin to pick a more appropriate nickname." Jess smirked.

"Jess!"

"Yeah, I can attest to that name being entirely out of date." Matthew spoke up. "You guys weren't exactly quiet last weekend. 'Oh Jess!' 'Rory you're so good at'"

"Matthew!" He was admonished simultaneously by Sara, Jess and Chris.

"I felt like I was on the set of some cheap porno."

"And you guys wonder why I never let girls meet the two of you." Jess said with a roll of his eyes as he took Rory's hand in his. She looked incredibly embarrassed, but she was smiling.

"Probably because there are no girls?" Chris replied. Jess threw a peanut at his head.

"Like you can talk. When was the last time you had sex?" Jess countered, causing Chris to open his mouth and close it several times.

"I can tell you the last time Jess had sex." Matthew muttered under his breath, earning himself a slap from his girlfriend.

"Ooh, can we find Chris a girl?" Rory asked suddenly, her embarrassment quickly fading.

"No, but Jess can." Matthew replied. Upon her perplexed look he elaborated. "Jess has this superhuman ability to only hit on girls who will be interested. He's even helped me get lai- uh, I mean-" he hesitated, looking at his girlfriend.

"Matt, I'm very aware that you have slept with other women." Sara said in an exasperated voice.

"Should I be worried about this apparent superpower of yours?" Rory whispered into Jess' ear, only to have him respond by kissing her firmly. Seemingly convinced, she settled down to watch her boyfriend check out women for the sake of his friend. Quite an unusual situation, but she'd sat through far too many nights of Colin and Finn unsuccessful attempts at wooing women so it wasn't entirely strange to her.

Jess scanned the bar for someone who wouldn't reject Chris, who would find his many quirks amusing but wouldn't be too offended if he chose his studying over her. There were several groups of girls in that night, but they all seemed too superficial for his friend. Then he spotted a group of five women lining up at the bar. The majority of them seemed fairly drunk and pointless, but one of them seemed to be their best bet.

"That girl." He said finally, and Rory was impressed.

"Oh my god. You don't have a power Jess, you just think like a girl!"

"What on earth do you mean Ror?"

"That girl is clearly out of her element. She doesn't want to be here but her friends do and she's going along with it. She's dressed considerably more conservatively which means she isn't at this place to go home with the first guy she meets. She's not expecting to be hit on tonight. She has a bag big enough to contain a book or some other kind of entertainment; it's not small and pointless like the other girls have. This means she's probably smart, probably goes to college and these girls are either her dorm mates or girls she plays sports with. Soccer, probably. All in all she's perfect for an intelligent, funny guy like Chris."

"I don't think I noticed any of that."

"Exactly! You think like a girl without even thinking it!" Rory exclaimed with a grin, surprisingly happy at the way Jess' mind worked.

"So Jess is Mel Gibson in _What Women Want_?" Matthew asked.

"He wishes." Rory replied with her own version of a smirk.

After half an hour of drinking and casual conversation Chris finally mustered up enough courage to talk to the girl who was now sitting at the bar, looking completely bored and out of place. Rory got to know Matthew a little better, as she had never got to meet him when she visited their Hartford store. She was interested to hear that he was getting his own book of short stories published, and he promised to save her a copy (to buy, she still felt bad about Jess giving her a copy of _The Subsect_). Jess stayed fairly quiet, watching in amusement as the girl who had held his affection for the longest time bonded with his closest friends and seemed to be winning them over. He knew Matthew had reacted pretty badly to the news that the girl who had broken his heart and caused his cross-country road trip was back in his life, but seeing him give her a chance was making him altogether too happy for a man known for being grumpy and abrasive.

He turned to see Rory next to him looking like she was struggling to stay awake, and he remembered her heavy class load and early morning at work and decided they were done for the night. As far as he knew Matthew was staying with Sara and Chris hadn't come back from his mystery woman, so they may just have the apartment to themselves.

"Do you want me to get you a pillow?" He asked her with a full-blown smile. Rory looked up to see his eyes sparkling and this wide smile on his face. It may have been the beer talking, but she felt like Jess looking so obviously content and happy was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"You're really pretty." She mumbled as her head moved from her hands to his shoulder.

"Time for bed."

"I didn't get you nearly drunk enough." She muttered as he helped her out of the booth, both saying their goodbyes to the couple (who would subsequently hit a nightclub after they left and not get home until six in the morning). The cool air outside woke Rory up a little, but she still clung to Jess for support.

"Why were you getting me drunk?"

"I like slutty drunk Jess." She replied simply, and his eyebrows rose sharply.

"You don't have to get me drunk for that." He whispered softly in her ear, causing shudders all over her body.

"Okay but I'm feeling particularly submissive tonight so sexy controlling Jess would be fantastic." She said as they walked into the darkness of the store. She had no time to turn on the light before Jess had both her arms pinned to the walk, his breath hot on her face as he stood an inch away.

"Done. Take off your clothes."

* * *

><p><strong>Sometimes I feel like doing more than a fade to black, but this story is T-rated and staying that way. I might be persuaded to do some dirtier missing moments, if anyone was interested… <strong>

**Just for anyone curious, _Billy Madison _was my favourite movie as a child. Don't judge me!  
><strong>

**Review please? Pretty please? I'd love to break 100 by chapter 20. That would be grand. Thank you for reading! **


	20. Kiss Her

**Hello again! It's good to see you? Are you well? This one took longer than anticipated due to started (and quitting) a fulltime job as well as my new addiction of going to the gym at weird hours of the night. It's also one of the few chapters I've had planned since the beginning so I wanted to make it good. Hopefully it is, and you'll like it and junk.**

**Song is 'A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More "Touch Me"' by the band I missed in concert and will probably never get to see, Fall Out Boy. Go check out the video, because vampires! **

**Disclaimer: Not even if there was a fire.**

Kiss Her

"It's wrong! It's all wrong!"

Friday morning in New Haven had started off with a bang. The last two weeks of Rory's life had been a non-stop cramming session as every single one of her classes had a major assignment due. She'd barely slept, and any time she hadn't spent in her bedroom writing like crazy had involved actually turning up to class. Fortunately the foresight of asking for time off from work a month in advance had happened, so she didn't have anything to distract her from getting perfect grades.

Not that she'd get them with the pieces of trash she was calling her major essays.

"Gilmore, stop pacing and sit the hell down!" Paris yelled forcefully. "I've read through all of your papers twice, you've pestered all of your professors for whatever insignificant amount of insight they could provide on what they were looking for. These are near perfect. So relax and have some coffee! There's an oxymoron for you."

"You're only saying this because you already submitted all of yours! You didn't give yourself the chance to overanalyse like I am right now!"

"You know what's good for stress? Sex. Doyle and I-"

"Please don't."

"What? It's not like you can't hear us."

"Exactly, I don't need to be reminded of it."

"Just email them already!"

"Fine!"

Another half an hour of muttering and stress-filled rants and Rory had submitted all of her assignments to her professors (triple checking to make sure each one went to the right address, of course). Paris decided they needed to celebrate with alcohol, so she made Doyle run to the liquor store to buy wine before he went to work. The fact that it wasn't even nine in the morning hadn't occurred to her so naturally the store was closed and they had to compromise and drink the terrible beer they had in their fridge for some reason.

"To a week without stress before we go crazy again," Rory proposed as a toast, her fuzzy slipper-clad feet now sitting comfortably on the coffee table as she clinked cans with her roommate and sipped the disgusting liquid.

"Amen to that." Paris said in her calmest voice, though Rory expected her next nervous breakdown to start sometime around Monday morning. "You know with all your running around and yelling, you were almost late for the deadlines."

"That's not something I really need to think about." Rory sighed. Everything was done for now, which meant she could have dinner with her grandparents in peace before going home with her mother to eat something Luke would rant at. Maybe she'd leave early and spend the night with Jess; though having the entire weekend to do that meant she could prolong it until Saturday if she wanted to. Content, she took a larger than necessary gulp of her beer and nearly spat it back out onto her fluffy dressing gown. "This is the most disgusting beer in the history of beer."

"It's entirely Doyle's fault. This is what he brought back when I asked for something light. Beer is not light! Beer is what you drink with your buddies at the big game, not what you want to choke back when PMS makes you want to strangle every single person who lives a life without ovaries."

_Poor Doyle_, Rory thought with a frown. Paris was a handful at the best of times, but there was a charming few days every month when she turned into a Stephen King villain. She was not above throwing hot coffee in the face of people, and probably would've had Rory not been there to take it out of her hand and pay the barista. She was just glad her own hormones never turned her into Judy Garland.

"It's not that bad." Rory reasoned, but regretted it instantly. She just started something with Paris Gellar and it wasn't even lunchtime yet. Clearly years of experience of dealing with the blonde had taught her nothing.

"Right, feeling like a baby raptor is clawing through your body feels fine and dandy, doesn't it? Just because yours feels like butterflies doesn't mean the rest of us have it that easy!"

"Hey, that's unfair! I remember…" Rory thought back. Then she thought back some more. Then terror sat in as she realised something incredibly uncomfortable and highly alarming. "Fuck."

"Woah, never thought I'd hear you say that word. What is it?" Paris turned to her and tried to look concerned. It was something she was working on, though showing contempt was still a lot easier on the muscles in her jaw. She noticed Rory put down her beer with a look of disgust on her face. The beer was awful, but it didn't deserve _that _look of hatred.

"I've never been late a day in my life. Not even for the last week of school and everyone knows they're a waste of time."

"Did you have to go somewhere?"

"I think I might have to."

"You think? What are you late- oh. Oh!" Paris' eyes went wide.

"Yeah."

"Well in all fairness, you've been really stressed the last few weeks. Stress causes this. I should know, I'm pre-med."

"Right, stress. Probably stress." Rory nodded, liking the sound of that.

"Exactly, I mean, it's not like you've been…" Paris looked up at her roommate and occasional best friend, only to see that she was blushing. "You've been having random unprotected sex with some guy and now you're pregnant! I can't believe I thought of you as my equal!"

"Paris! I have not been doing… that! I've been seeing someone for a few months but I haven't told my mom or anything, so you can't say a word."

"Why haven't you told her?"

"It's Jess."

"Again? God, the two of you are worse than Ross and Rachel. Especially if he knocked you up."

"Paris, please stop verbalising it! Jess and I, we're extremely safe. Safer than safe. It's just stress."

"Right, stress. Because there was absolutely no time that you were going at it like genetically blessed rabbits and forgot to wrap things up?"

"No way, I-" Rory began, but faltered. Suddenly the room felt like it was spinning. Everything in her life had been so meticulously planned and it was going to be one afternoon on a bookstore couch to unravel it all. "One time. It wasn't exactly planned and it didn't really… you know, have the required ending. But, I'm on The Pill!"

"Ninety-eight per cent of people will tell you that it's one hundred per cent effective. The other two are taking Lamaze classes."

"You're not helping!" Rory was about to go into one of her classic meltdowns. She was surprised that she hadn't already entered that area where logic makes no sense, but she figured she was still recovering from her two weeks of panic mode. Her mind really wasn't even processing what was happening.

"Gilmore, this is what we're going to do. You're going to take a shower because you look like hell, while I go and get you as many different brands of tests that I can find. Then you'll pee on as many sticks as you want and then we'll laugh over actual wine at lunch over how silly this whole thing was because everything is obviously being caused by stress."

"Right." Rory sat there numbly, her mind switched off.

"Go!"

* * *

><p>The second Paris walked back into their apartment she realised that she'd been gone for too long. Rory was pacing again, this time in mismatched clothes and her hair wet and dripping a little. Clearly something had sunk in and the meltdown had begun.<p>

"What the hell have I done?" She asked her friend as she grabbed at the paper bag. Her eyes were red from crying and she had this desperate look that screamed how badly she wanted someone, anyone to take this all away.

"That's what these plastic contraptions are for."

"I can't do it! What if they say yes? What am I going to do? I'm pretty sure my grandparents won't be making 'congratulations on getting pregnant and ruining our hopes and dreams for you' banners! And mom… oh god, mom!"

"Rory, look at me." Paris rooted her friend to the spot and put her hands on her shoulders. "This is all going to be okay. The tests will come out negative, I almost guarantee it. And if they don't, your family will deal with it. It might take some time, but they love you and will support you no matter what."

Rory couldn't help it; she smiled a little at the compassion. Paris was not one for making people feel better. This was probably a first, and it was so incredibly genuine that she felt a surge of gratitude for this lasting friendship-like thing that they had. Then another, more horrible thought hit her and the smile fell instantly.

"What about Jess?" She asked, almost timidly.

"If he loves you as much as I think he does, you've got nothing to worry about. That guy would go to the moon if you asked him to. It'll be a shock, but I think he'd deal with it."

"But-"

"If not, then there's a line of people ready to kick his butt. Myself included."

"I've had about a thousand cups of coffee since you left, I think I better go try these things out." She gestured to the paper bag.

"Good luck. Oh and Gilmore… you'll always have me."

"Thanks Paris."

Rory headed to the bathroom and closed the door. Today had started off regularly enough, but right now she felt like the Anti-Rory. Not to mention the Anti-Paris who had just given her unwavering support. If she found out later that the world had been taken over by aliens she wouldn't be surprised. With a sigh she ripped opened each of the little packages, reading the instructions twice and noticing a pattern of instructions that were easy enough to follow. Paris had gotten her five different types of pregnancy tests. She knew they weren't completely accurate but five would definitely paint a better (or worse) picture than just one. Soon enough she had them sitting on the bathroom sink as she set the timer until they would be ready.

While waiting, she considered the possibility of being pregnant. Yale was important, but in a few months she'd be finished for the year and could probably take the whole next year off. By the time semester started again the baby would probably be old enough to go places without her. Her mother wouldn't mind, she'd get over the shock of Rory having a baby pretty quickly. Her grandparents would scream and shout but when they realised she wasn't giving up her education they would eventually be on her side. Lane was an eternally unwavering support network, as was Paris it seemed. The only variable was Jess, and he was a pretty big part of it.

He wouldn't be excited in the way men were on TV or in books, she knew that. Her disgust with herself for this was proof enough that neither of them was exactly ready. But she imagined him an adult, much more grown up than her in a lot of ways. She hoped that he would deal with it all in an adult manner. Maybe he'd even be there for her, they'd move in together somewhere in between Yale and his job. He'd take the baby to work whenever Rory didn't want to bother her mother. They'd be a weird, but surprisingly functional family. She loved Jess so much that she could easily imagine having a family with him. Just not right now. The revelation of this didn't surprise her as much as she thought it would. Of course she loved Jess, she never stopped loving him. Regardless of the results today would bring, she made it her mission to verbalise this to him as soon as possible. If the little screen said 'positive', that moment would be happening in an hour instead of later that night, but the sentiment remained the same.

The insistent beeping of her phone shook her from her reverie, and she was surprised that it wasn't her timer. Rather, someone was calling her. Her hands shook as she answered.

"H-hello?"

"Rory? Are you okay?" The warm, masculine voice sounded concerned. If only he knew why she was so shaken up, he would've joined her in freaking out.

"Yeah. I hope so. Just submitted all my essays." She half-lied. A half-lie was still a half-truth.

"Don't get nervous, everything you sent me the other night was totally worth of an A. An A triple plus, if that fancy college of yours believed in unicorn stickers and giving out candy."

"Silly Ivies and their standards. So, call for any reason?"

"Can't I just call because I like your voice?"

"I should start charging a dollar a minute."

"Only if you start talking dirty."

"Jess!"

"Fine, I'll start. What are you wearing?" Rory felt like crying. Jess was on the phone being his wonderful, sexy self and it all might be ruined by a stupid plastic strip. However she did glance down at her clothes and noticed in her haste to cover herself so she wouldn't start checking out her stomach she'd dressed rather… bizarrely.

"A shirt and skirt that in no way match, apparently. And two different shoes."

"Yeah you're not getting this. You're supposed to lie and say something see-through. Or nothing. Nothing is always an excellent option."

"Good thing the first call is free."

"I bet you say that to all the boys."

"Only the pretty ones."

"Pretty? I think you mean devilishly handsome. Not to mention a demon in the sack."

"You're so modest too." Rory rolled her eyes, forgetting for a moment why she was in the tiny bathroom of her apartment until the little reminder on her phone went off.

"Cooking something? Please don't burn yourself."

"Shut up. It's just Paris, we're studying for our finals super early because we're mentally prepared because of our essays or something."

"You should go and find a place with sane people. People you actually like." Jess said teasingly, but she was feeling a little protective of Paris, the girl who had braved a drug store in this neighbourhood for her.

"She's my friend! I like her a lot and I don't appreciate you saying that." She snapped a little more than she liked.

"Sorry, I didn't realise the two of you had become BFF's."

"Jess… I haven't seen you in a fortnight and I'd like us very much to be happy to see each other tonight."

"So you're coming over?" He tried not to sound too excited, but after two weeks of no Rory he felt like a prisoner getting parole. Or at least a conjugal visit.

"After I finish at my grandparents."

"I'll order a pizza and kick Matthew out."

"I'm having dinner with my grandparents."

"I'll order a pizza."

"Bye Jess."

"See you tonight."

She closed her phone and held her breath. This was it. She couldn't bring herself to look while on the phone to Jess, certain her voice would give away something. Glancing down she was interrupted by sharp knocks on the bathroom door.

"You okay in there?"

"I'm just about to find out." Finally, she looked. And looked again. Three times to be sure. A fourth to be certain.

"Well?"

"They're all negative. Every one of them." Rory grinned. She wasn't going to be a mother before graduating.

"Hallelujah!"

"Definitely."

"Let's go get wasted somewhere with food."

"I think I want to get dressed again. Drink the rest of that beer. We'll go at lunchtime like the non-alcoholics do."

"Deal. Jess called while you were in there, didn't he?"

"You were listening?"

"Not really. Did you tell him?"

"Did I tell my boyfriend that I might possibly be pregnant over the phone and then hang up before knowing whether or not I was? No!"

"You should tell him."

"There's no need." She needed a change of subject, and one came to her instantly. "Hey, do you want to come to Wedding Week?"

"What's that, some ceremony your freak town puts on where everyone over twenty-five and single is forced into some mass marriage ceremony?"

"No! Lane's getting married, and so is my mom, so they decided to have this huge week of parties during the summer. It's going to be awesome. Plus, I need a roomie at the inn considering the world believes me to be single."

"Could I bring Doyle?" She asked with a small smile, as though bringing the man she loved to mock as small town was one of her dreams come true. Rory pouted a little at the idea of being in an actual relationship with all the flaunting involved. She wanted to flaunt Jess, but she was afraid of what everyone she knew might say. She was a legal adult with an ID to prove it, but she still worried about what everyone thought about her.

"Sure, of course. I'll just… stay at home and keep April company."

"Before sneaking out to see Jess." Paris smiled and Rory gave her a mischievous grin back. It was good to have someone else know about her and Jess. Maybe by the time Wedding Week was here she'd be ready to go back to making out in the gazebo with an impeccably dressed Jess Mariano.

* * *

><p>Later that night after watching a terrible action movie and pointing out plot holes the entire time, Rory was laying with her head on Jess' lap, feeling content as he stroked her hair and berated the American actor for his attempt at an English accent. A pizza box lay discarded on the nearby coffee table, as did a few mugs and bottles of beer. Rory and Paris ended up splitting a bottle of wine with lunch so she didn't really feel up to alcohol and had stuck to coffee. Jess on the other hand had spent his day trying to coax a larger publishing agent to take a look at a limited run they'd done recently by a talented but unknown writer. It had taken him several hours, two phone calls and one face to face meeting, but he'd done it. Their books were getting more publicity than ever and it was keeping them all extremely busy. A night with a few beers and a beautiful woman was the perfect cure for his good work ethic.<p>

"Matthew said you got one of your writers a book deal with some big publisher." Rory said suddenly, breaking him out of his trance of watching her face.

"Yeah, it was no big deal." He could tell from her face that she thought it was a very big deal. Getting a book published was right up with curing diseases for her.

"Don't try to play it so cool. Let me be proud of you." She reached up to touch his face before sitting up a little and bringing her lips to his. She tasted amazing, like vanilla and pepperoni.

"You're so beautiful." He smiled as he pulled her up until she was sitting on his lap, her legs either side of his as her hands went to his shoulders for support. Tonight was about taking things slow, enjoying the feel of each other. There'd always been so much of a rush to rip each other's clothes off, but Jess was done with rushing. Rory saw the love in his eyes and small smile and knew that even though they were young, this was it for her.

"I love you." She smiled brilliantly as she said the words, knowing that he felt the same way. Even if he didn't say it back she was sure.

"You said it first this time." He teased, suddenly feeling like this slow approach wasn't working at all. Rory loved him and all he wanted to do was show her how much she meant to him.

"Doesn't really count if I never fell out of love with you."

"Sure it does. I love you a ridiculously cheesy amount, Rory Gilmore." He laughed a little as she shook her head before kissing her passionately, leaving no room for questions as to what the kiss meant. To say he was surprised when Rory pulled away was an understatement.

"Let's go to bed." She smiled down at him as she stood up and tugged at his hand. He followed along diligently, wondering what exactly had just gone wrong. She left him in his bedroom to use the bathroom, and he stripped down to his boxers before crawling into bed. It wasn't long before she walked back into the room in what she called her 'Jess pyjamas', which basically meant a tank top with nearly non-existent shorts. She didn't wear expensive lingerie or dress up for him, but the usual bedtime outfit of pink bunnies was never an option around him.

"Stop looking so sexy, would you?"

"You're one to talk when I know you're wearing nothing but those black shorts of yours." Rory retorted with a blush. Usually when they talked like this she was a little more occupied and the flush of red or pink didn't happen. Not tonight.

"For all you know I'm naked."

Rory shook her head with a smile. "You don't sleep naked when I'm here. It's your way of making me feel comfortable."

"We've slept naked plenty of times." He countered, hoping enough of this banter would change her mind.

"That's always after…"

"One day you'll figure out how to say a certain four-letter f-word."

"Fire? Fish? Too many words to choose from, sweetheart." She smiled down at him before he gestured her to join and she obliged, perfectly happy to have his arms wrap around her from behind as he pressed his body against her back. After a few moments of silence one of Jess' hands began to roam her stomach, lifting her shirt a little and attempting to slip into her shorts. Rory's hand guided him to safer territory, and Jess knew for sure that nothing was going to happen that night.

"You okay, Ror?" He asked quietly, nuzzling her neck a little.

"What, you think just because I don't want to have sex that something's wrong?" She snapped, turning around to face him with an angry frown on her face.

"No, I'm not that much of a jerk." He snapped back, before mellowing a little. "You've been a bit spaced out all night. Something happen with your grandparents?"

"No, nothing like that." She assured him with a small smile as he held onto both of her hands. He was being endearingly sweet and she wondered if she should talk to him about what happened earlier that day. Paris had seemed to think it was a good idea, but she wasn't exactly the most reliable source of relationship advice. "It's sort of weird. I don't know."

"You can tell me. I actually do the whole listening thing now."

"Jess, you've always been great at the listening thing. It was the verbal thing that was the problem." 'The verbal thing comes and goes', if she remembered correctly.

"What if I tell you that I love you no matter what's on your mind?" He tried again.

"I'd say you were a huge sap but I love you anyway." She grinned and kissed his nose. "Okay, I'll tell you what happened. But I want you to remember one word. That word is negative."

"Negative. Got it. Did you do some weird photography thing?"

"I'm going to stop you before your brain makes the obvious conclusion to something dirty. Wow, this is a hard story to tell. Remind me not to tell anyone after you." He nodded, which was more an indication for her to go on. "Okay, so Paris and I had just submitted our assignments, and she wanted wine but it wasn't even nine in the morning yet." Jess opened his mouth to say something but she shushed him. "We ended up settling for this gross beer we have in the fridge that I'll get you to drink if this story doesn't make you break up with me. So we ended up talking about Paris' ovaries-"

"This story is weird."

"Shut up. So ovaries were mentioned and then something clicked in my head. At first I figured it was stress but then I remembered something and Paris said something about bunnies and wrapping and it's all pretty much a big blur of freaking out now but at the time everything was moving so slowly."

"Rory, you're going to have to slow down and actually make sense. I'm not Lorelai, I can't understand all of your strange references."

"Right. Sorry. I just don't want to say the words."

"You can say anything to me."

"Actually I'd have better luck telling this story to anyone who wasn't you."

"Try. Please Rory, I want to know how to make you feel better." Maybe it was the fact that she could barely see him in the darkness of his room, or the fact that what he just said seemed so far away from anything the brooding, mysterious Jess would say. Either way it gave Rory the confidence to tell her story.

"Okay. For the better part of this morning I was faced with the possibility that I might be pregnant." She said the words as evenly as possibly, but couldn't stop the bright red blush on her cheeks from forming. Jess tightened his grip on her hands, his entire body stiffening like he'd been dealt a blow. A few deep breaths and he relaxed a little.

"Rory-"

"Remember the word, Jess?"

"Negative. Okay, now that word makes a lot more sense." She felt him nod and loosen his grip on her hands.

"Do you want me to finish the story?"

"You ruined the ending."

"If I hadn't you'd be halfway to Reno by now." She half-joked.

"You figured I'd run away?" He asked with a little too much force for it to be casual.

"When I didn't know, all I could think of was your reaction if it was positive. I knew mom would be okay, my grandparents would come around eventually, but you were this great unknown."

"What did you come up with?"

"It's so lame, but I figured we could move in together somewhere between here and Yale, because I'd obviously be going back after a year off. Mom would definitely be good for babysitting, but I thought maybe sometimes you'd take it to work with you, or something."

"No thoughts of me running away?"

"Paris convinced me otherwise. Unless she was wrong, and that's okay because this is all hypothetical now."

"Hypothetically speaking then, do you want to know what I'd do?"

"Yeah." She said in a painfully small voice. Jess looked thoughtful for a moment, choosing his words carefully.

"The second you told me I'd make some lame excuse and get the hell out of wherever we are. Then I'd go buy a pack of cigarettes and chain smoke the entire lot. Maybe go to a bar somewhere, I don't know. But then, and only then, would I realise how much of a dick I was being. Running around like it was something _I _had to deal with when all along it was going to affect _you _so much worse. I'd get another pack of cigarettes just in case and then you'd find me at your door with as many flowers and chocolates as I could carry and my best apologetic face on hoping you'd forgive me for being the biggest ass in the world. Would you forgive me?"

"Did you get me good chocolate?"

"I can't afford to eat for a week because I've spent so much on chocolate." He smiled weakly and she grinned back at him, before he had his arms around her waist and his lips on hers.

"Honestly, that was the most Jess-like solution to anything I've ever heard."

"It's how I work. You make lists and organise everything, I smoke and think."

"I'm glad this is all hypothetical." Rory said in between kisses.

"Me too. I'm pretty sure your grandmother would have me castrated if I knocked you up."

"Wouldn't want that."

"But now I'm curious. When did we ever- the time on the couch?"

"Yep."

"I thought you were-"

"It's not completely safe."

"Right." He grinned a little evilly at a random thought. "Though you know, if it was a positive we wouldn't really need to worry about stuff like that."

"Because the worst case scenario had already occurred. I think you're forgetting that part."

"Plus your boobs would get huge."

"I'm just going to let you stay in Crazy Land."

"Then we've got hormones. You'd probably be so horny all the time and it would be my duty to service you."

"Jess!"

"Relax, Gilmore! Hypothetical, remember?" She shook her head at him.

"Hypothetical. You know you'd have to marry me, right?" Rory grinned a bit as she watched his face change. Then he merely shrugged.

"I could think of worse things."

"Wow, what a compliment. You really know how to make a lady feel special."

"What if I told you I'm imagining you with nothing but an apron on?"

"Because we're married and I cook now?"

"I'll always be the one cooking for you, I've accepted that. The apron is merely for show. The whipped cream is an entirely different story."

"Mm, whipped cream. Can we go get some in the morning?" She asked sleepily as she pulled him back into the position they were in before, his arms around her body and his chest on her back.

"Maple syrup too?"

"Messy."

"But fun."

"Just like life." Jess smiled at her insight. They were lucky that life had spared them something messy and fun. Both were twenty-one and still finding themselves.

Still, the idea of making babies with the woman sleeping in his arms wasn't the worst idea the universe had ever come up with. Closing his eyes, he listened to her steady breathing until he too fell asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>So… don't hate me for using the clichéd 'pregnancy scare', will you? Look, I wrote Paris! I was so scared of writing Paris because she's my favourite character in the show and I wanted to do her some justice. Hopefully I did and we can all be happy that everyone is happy. <strong>

**Review so I know how much you loathed it. Or say something nice. Whatever comes more naturally. **


	21. Nice Day

**You know what today is? Well I personally think it's a nice day for a white wedding. But that's just me. Lorelai's getting her June 3****rd**** and Lane's almost throwing up with nerves. Allow me to put the poor girls out of their misery with Wedding Week! **

**Song, you say? Billy Idol seems appropriate, no? **

Nice Day (pt. 1)

The town of Stars Hollow was known for its eccentricity. Other towns mocked its festivals and rituals, but secretly wished they had the guts to start a knitting marathon. There'd been dancing and pie eating, but never something as extravagant as this. Taylor had organised teams of people to cover the town with as much lace, flowers and ribbons as humanly possible. Kirk had been conducting the high school marching band terribly all week. Babette and Miss Patty were brewing unknown alcoholic concoctions to 'test' which ended up with them both passed out in front of Luke's. Brian and Gil had spent the better part of the weekend setting up sound equipment and arguing over song choices. Gypsy was personally checking the expensive-looking rental cars that were staying with her for most of the week. Now it was Monday morning and Stars Hollow's first (and probably last) Wedding Week had begun.

"Welcome to the dollhouse." Paris said as her and Doyle drove through the centre of town. The place looked like Vera Wang had thrown up on it and she was a little unnerved by the commitment everyone had given. Commitment that meant they should probably be committed. Still, she saw that it was kind of nice that the town cared enough to throw the biggest party ever for two of their couples. "Has Rory sent you the itinerary yet?"

Doyle checked his phone and nodded. "Looks like tonight is bachelor/bachelorette night, tomorrow is a spa day and Wednesday is Lane and Zack's wedding. Thursday is Luke and Lorelai's rehearsal dinner in Hartford so we're probably not invited, Friday has all the men going to a 'yet to be determined sporting event'… wow, it really says that. Saturday is the main event, Luke and Lorelai. This thing seriously describes it as 'the main event'; I'm not making any of this up. Sunday features both couples leaving for their honeymoons as everyone else nurses a massive hangover. I'm not the only one who thinks this is completely insane, right?"

"This place is the inmates running the asylum, don't be surprised by anything."

"Got it. Do we really have to stay the whole week?"

"Yes! We're going to every single sock hop and cow tipping party this place throws at us!"

"You're making me go alone to a bachelor party with complete strangers."

"You better make sure you get a lap dance too. We're getting the full wedding experience here."

Meanwhile a similar conversation was being held in another car coming from Stamford.

"I don't see why I have to go."

"You're Luke's best man, Jess."

"But I'm also a bridesmaid, bride's guy, bridesdude or whatever for Lane."

"So you want to come with us girls?"

"I think the two cancel each other and I should just stay home."

"No! You're going to go to the strip club and shove dollars down the nice lady's clothes."

"Or alternatively we should both stay at the diner apartment and I could pay you to take your clothes off." Jess said with a smirk, widening to a smile when he saw the ever predictable blush emerge. "You made me get all these dollar bills so I might as well just stick them down your bra."

"You're ridiculous."

"I'm amusing. You're telling me you really want to go to whatever Babette and Miss Patty planned?"

"They seemed really eager to help! Besides I don't think my mom would be too pleased if I blew her off to-"

"I've got a really dirty ending to that sentence."

"-go make out with my future cousin!" She finished as she ignored him.

"Oh god, don't say that!"

"What, it's true! In a week we're going to be cousins!"

"Do you hear that?"

"The banjos?"

"I think they're getting closer."

Rory shook her head and gasped. She'd been working the entire weekend and had yet to see the town's decorations that her mother ranted over the phone about. Of course the rant was cut short when Jess sneezed and Lorelai asked who she was with. After convincing her mother that Paris did have a really masculine sneeze but didn't like to talk about it, Rory started to feel like this whole hidden relationship was getting a bit tiresome. They were going to two weddings in a week, which in Rory's mind meant twice the amount of women hitting on Jess. Jess was thinking something similar, but his visions featured men suited up personally by Rory's grandmother, invited purely to vie for the debutante's affections. He wouldn't be surprised if Emily got something like that by Lorelai without the bride noticing. Rory, who by that point was gaping at the magnitudes of lace covering the gazebo, noticed him looking thoughtful.

"Penny for your thoughts, Mariano?" She asked with a smile that would probably melt butter.

"Just wondering who Emily Gilmore's bringing for your date."

"What? Grandma wouldn't... Do you think it's too late to stop her?"

"There's a good chance she lined this guy up the day you dumped the asshat."

Rory laughed, because it sounded like a very Emily Gilmore thing to do. Not that she ever actually told her that she broke up with Logan. Rory had let Lorelai take the fall for her on that occasion, while Rory sat in her bedroom eating copious amounts of post-breakup ice cream. That was a depressing week full of Boxing Day shoe sales and wallowing over her first post-high school relationship while at the same time wondering what that moment in the alley with Jess meant. The fact that she had to specify which alley she was talking about to herself (the one near the bar or the one near Luke's, both of which featured strange 'moments' between the two) proved that there was unfinished business. Now, months later, she realised how right she was. It just happened to turn out that the 'unfinished business' was having a relationship that was actually healthy and happy for a change. That was new to them.

"Thinking hard there, Gilmore?" Jess asked as they pulled up to her house, mirroring her question from before.

"Just thinking about how insane it is that we're actually in a normal, healthy relationship." Jess smirked at this admission and leant in to kiss her softly.

"Apart from acknowledging said healthy relationship to people outside this car." He muttered against her lips.

"Not true. Lane knows, Paris knows. Matt and Chris know."

"Which would be fantastic if we needed people to witness our elopement." Jess said as he kissed her quickly several times. "But I'm starting to feel like you're ashamed of me."

Rory pulled back from him, shock and hurt shown on her features.

"That's not it at all! How could you even think that?"

"Because it's damn obvious that you think no one would approve of your dating choice!" His defence mechanisms were kicking in, something he'd been training to avoid the last few years. But he was angry, hurt and above all confused. He wanted to be screaming this from the rooftops, in a manner of speaking. Not hiding down dark alleys and behind closed doors.

"I don't care what anyone else thinks!" She said, her voice faltering a little. The second it slipped out she knew he wouldn't believe it.

"Bullshit! I'm not some rich douchebag that you can show off to your grandparents. I won't sit and watch movies with you and your mother like some obedient dog!" Jess barked, the familiar feeling of shame and vindication seeping in. To anyone else those emotions wouldn't work together. Jess Mariano had been dealing with them since he was ten and found out his mother had sold his books to buy gas for her boyfriend's car. The very same gas that drove him far from New York as he left Jess to pick up the pieces of a classic Liz Danes breakup.

"Do you think if I wanted that I'd be here right now?" Rory shouted back, coming entirely too close to tears. This conversation had started with kissing, how did it get so out of control?

"I don't know what I think right now." He answered honestly. What he really needed was to walk somewhere, smoke a lot and think things through. He didn't need this yelling.

"Well don't talk to me until you do!" Rory said finally, getting out of the car and slamming the door shut. She wasn't surprised when Jess sped off straight away. Everything else was taking her by complete surprise. She honestly didn't know why she was keeping their relationship a secret, but she knew for sure it wasn't because she was ashamed of him. He wasn't the boy who turned up for Friday Night Dinner with a black eye any more. Or at least she thought he wasn't, though his latest outburst said otherwise. She liked to think of him as an adult, a self-published author who was gaining notability in the literary world. Jess was everything she wanted in a man, everything he had the potential to be when he stepped off the bus in Stars Hollow as a scruffy seventeen year old with a massive chip on his shoulder.

Maybe she was wrong.

* * *

><p>Jess slammed the door of the diner apartment and slumped onto the double bed that once belonged to Luke. He glanced at the other side of the room and noticed how ungirly it was. He'd been told April spent time here, though you couldn't tell looking at his former sleeping area. He supposed she spent more time at Lorelai's. Groaning into the pillow, he was seriously regretting being the designated driver. That was what happened when the mini bus hired for the wedding was a stick, and the only other person who could drive it was Luke. Or Lane. Probably Gypsy too. But they were all too busy actually getting drunk to drive.<p>

It hadn't been the worst night, all things considered. He'd brought a good book at sat with Luke watching football on a TV near the bar at the strip club TJ found. They'd been joined eventually by Doyle, who seemed almost as neurotic as Paris as he muttered about laps and glitter. Jackson had run home early to relieve the babysitter (Bryan, who was allergic to beer) and Zack had spent an hour sitting in the corner freaking out about Mrs Kim being his mother-in-law. Jess had been pretty oblivious to everything though; he'd been too busy trying to figure out how the hell he had managed to screw things up with Rory yet again.

His musings of the night were interrupted by a bang, followed by a shriek of laughter. Someone was coming up the stairs clumsily, making more noise than Jess thought possible. Eventually the door to the apartment sprung open and there stood Rory, her shoes in her hand and completely drunk. On any other night Jess would've laughed, teased her and put her to bed. But they were fighting, and he wanted to know why her drunken subconscious wanted to be here.

"You look like hell." He said finally, which put a huge smile on her face.

"I feel pretty great. Did you know they made bubble gum flavoured vodka? Why aren't you drunk?" She slurred quickly, making it hard to hear. Jess was an expert at speaking Gilmore, but this was a struggle for him.

"Designated driver."

"Boo! This makes this whole drunken apology thing a lot harder." She sat down at the table in the middle of the room and started rubbing her feet.

"So you're here to apologise?" Jess was confused. Wasn't he the jerk in the situation? Why was she sorry?

"Yep! I had a great speech planned and everything, but that was before the dancers did a rousing rendition of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and Lane needed cocktails to wipe the abomination from her mind."

"Dancers?"

"We went to a burlesque club! It was freaking awesome! The costumes, and… something else."

"Okay."

"Monosyllabic Jess?"

"Drunk Rory."

"We'll be here all week, ladies and gentlemen."

"So what's so important you've barged in here at two in the morning?" Jess was tired, and altogether too sober and annoyed for this conversation. Rory pouted a little.

"I wanted to say sorry. I was thinking and… It's not because I'm ashamed of you. Seriously, look at you. You're like a fantasy. A sexy writer with a leather jacket. My mom loves you, Luke obviously loves you, and that's the only people who matter. But… when it's a secret it's safe. There's no outside expectation or, um… what's the thing I wanted to say?"

"I have no idea."

"We work really well when no one's judging us. But I'm really sick of it! Lane told her mom that she's marrying the non-religious lead singer of the devil's music, Paris and Doyle get to be all cute. I want to be all cute! I want my mom to tease me because I get all dreamy-eyed when you walk into a room. That's what I want."

"Okay then."

"Okay? That's it? You were all shouty and now it's just 'okay'?"

"Yep. For one thing you're completely hammered and probably won't remember this conversation in the morning. But you've made your point and I can see why you think like that. Besides, I was an absolute dick this morning."

"No arguments here."

"So… can we not be fighting now?" Jess asked and watched as Rory's face turned from drunken confusion to a wide, happy smile. He barely had time to react when she lunged at him and kissed him firmly. He managed to wrap his arms around her and reciprocate before she was tugging him back towards the bed in a drunken flurry. Jess just shook his head and pushed her into the bed and draped the covers over her.

"Jess?" Rory asked, confused as to why she was still wearing clothes.

"Go to sleep. I'll make you my secret hangover cure in the morning."

"Aspirin and coffee is hardly a secret." Rory protested, her eyes already heavy as she felt Jess lay next to her.

"If you throw up you're never allowed to come near me drunk again." He whispered into her hair, making her giggle sleepily.

* * *

><p>Lorelai, after waking up on her couch wearing a feather boa, glitter and nothing else, realised that she may have had a teensy bit too much to drink. Rory's door was still closed so she decided to be a loving mother and let her daughter sleep the alcohol off a bit longer and go meet all the girls at Luke's without her. It was Spa Day, the one thing scientifically proven to rid them all of the toxins they had all readily ingested the night before. They were all taking the mini bus to a place an hour or so away that had been entirely paid for by Emily Gilmore. They'd butted heads over it, but after Emily almost tearfully admitted that she just wanted to be a part of her daughter's wedding Lorelai relented. They were leaving at nine o'clock sharp, and Lorelai planned to give her mother as many Bloody Marys as possibly before they took off.<p>

Showered, dressed and comfortable, Lorelai was once again the life of the party as people entered the diner ready for the escapades. Miss Patty had made drinks that they were all sneaking under the watchful eye of Luke. April had arrived and Emily was starting to laugh a little loudly, so Lorelai decided it was time to pile in the bus and go pick up her daughter. But first she needed their driver, who was no doubt reading upstairs. Without a second thought she practically sprinted up there and tore open the door. Clearly her experiences hadn't taught her to knock. Otherwise her retinas would not have imprinted the image of her daughter dressed in only a sheet swapping spit with a fully-dressed Jess Mariano.

"Oh! Um, we're ready downstairs!" Lorelai proclaimed before getting the hell out of there. Her eyes hadn't deceived her. She wondered if this was just a drunken one night thing, or if they'd been seeing each other for a while. It would certainly explain why Rory was being so secretive about why she checked 'plus one' on the wedding invitation despite being single. Her heart hammering, she decided it was time to face the fact that she was once again going to have to get used to the idea of Rory and Jess, The Couple.

Rory meanwhile was a deer caught in the headlights. Her mother caught her kissing Jess and she wasn't even wearing pants! Rushing to get dressed (accidentally leaving her stuff in Jess' car now seemed like a god send) she decided that this it. They were officially coming out of the dating closet.

"Looks like we're publicly dating now." She said resolutely, and despite the situation Jess smiled. Walking downstairs hand in hand they lifted the curtain to meet their demise. Fortunately for them Emily was holding court, showing everyone their customised Spa Day bathrobes that read 'Wedding Week 2006' on the back.

"I know they're a little tacky, but how adorable are they?" She said loudly, and Rory wondered how much alcohol her mother had fed her already. Emily was still smiling when her eyes landed on Rory and Jess. "Rory! You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend! He's cute. Isn't he cute, Lorelai?" Rory nearly choked on laughter and Jess' look of shock. Former black eyes and rudeness didn't really matter when Bloody Marys were involved.

"As a button, mother." Lorelai replied as she tried to hide her amusement. Her mother getting drunk two days in a row was a perfect example of why mass weddings worked. The tension of their relationship dissolved by an improperly drunk Emily Gilmore, Rory and Jess both looked forward to the week in their own ways.

* * *

><p><strong>Part one of Wedding Week complete! This was originally only going to be a two-parter, but I've got too many ideas so three parts it is! Next up we have Lane and Zack's actual wedding, and an interesting surprise for Jess. Maybe I'll even write some Taylor in. <strong>

**But you know what would be super cool? Reviews. WE BROKE 100 REVIEWS I'M SO EXCITED AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT! You guys make me so, so, so happy to write and hear from you. All the love in the world, my pretties. **


	22. I Don't Wanna Shout

**So I always knew Truncheon was Clash-related, but now I know how! The Gilmore Girls writers are geniuses and I love them greatly.**

**Song is London Calling by The Clash for reasons that will be made apparent soon enough. **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Gilmore Girls do you really think I would've let Jared have that season one haircut? I think not. **

I Don't Wanna Shout

"What's with the dress?"

"You know how Lane hides stuff from Mrs Kim? It's genetic."

Rory was filling late comers Jess, Lorelai and Luke in on events. This wedding was only a cover for Lane's grandmother, who would be on a plane back to Korea in a matter of minutes. The priest (was he a priest? Rory had no idea what was going on) was rambling on and very little was making much sense.

"I've gotta talk to you." Jess whispered into Rory's ear. It sounded serious, she decided.

"We can start walking over to the church if you want."

"Lane won't mind?"

"I'm fairly certain she's imagining her own slow and painful death right now."

They managed to slip through a crowd of people who were even later than they were and started to walk towards the church. Jess stopped when they reached Luke's and grabbed them some coffee and a few donuts. Rory smiled gratefully and attacked hers with no abandon. Eventually they reached the reception area and took seats that apparently belonged to Mr and Mrs Van Gerbig. Rory wondered if that meant Zack's parents or Lane and Zack, and was interrupted by Jess getting her attention.

"I didn't bring you out here just to look at the pretty tables. There's actually something I need to tell you. Discuss with you, really. Because it's completely up for discussion and I want to know what you think and- why are you laughing at me?"

"You're ranting. Usually I'm the one making no sense. Stop. Breathe. Think. Go." She smiled softly as another giggle escaped her mouth.

"Okay. You remember that book deal I got for Paul?"

"The super important one that you kept saying wasn't a big deal when it obviously was?"

"That's the one. Well the publishers called me last night, and apparently they've read my book." Seeing the excitement in her eyes, Jess shook his head. "They don't want to publish it. It's not 'polished' enough. However they were wondering if I was inclined to do a little apprenticeship with them, a year in their company to learn a few tricks and make terrible money."

"And you said yes?"

"They also want me to actually write something of substance within that year, so beyond getting coffee and throwing away manuscripts I'll be working on a novel they'll polish until it's shiny enough to see my face in."

"So that was a definite yes, right? Because I've never heard of a more perfect offer ever, and you're so young! Twenty-one is crazy for this! You said yes?"

"I said I'd think about it."

"What? Why? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Jess! What could possibly be stopping you?"

"You."

"Me? I-"

"The job's in London."

"England?"

"No, Arkansas. Yes England!" He replied dryly.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"When would you leave?"

"Late June, early July if I want to push it. They promised me accommodation, a car… everything."

"You have to do it."

"Oh, and here I was hoping you'd tell me to stay." He almost pouted, and Rory nearly laughed again. Instead she did the next most natural thing and kissed him, feeling some of his tension ease as she did so.

"There's a very big part of me that wants to say that, but…" She paused as the right words came to her, "I don't want you to resent me for it, later in life. That damn dame who stopped you from living your dreams, playing you for a sucker."

"Because in your version of the future I speak like a film noir detective?"

"Shut up, you get my point."

"I just haven't heard the word 'dame' used in casual conversation since Roger Rabbit got framed."

"You have to go, Jess."

"I know."

"How very Han Solo of you."

"I've never seen _Star Wars_."

"Seriously? The original three are classics! I don't think we should see each other anymore."

"You're breaking up with me because of a movie? I'm moving halfway across the planet and the breaking point involves lightsabers?" The light tone they'd adopted vanished as soon as those words were out of his mouth. Rory frowned as the idea of him moving to London actually sank in.

"I'm going to miss you." She said finally, and he replied the best way knew how: by kissing her fiercely, letting her know that it didn't matter about the miles between them, nothing would change. Yet he knew everything would. Especially considering there was a veritable mob of people running towards the church, some of them screaming as they did so. The words '58 seats, 62 Koreans' were vaguely heard as the two decided to join the wedding party once more, their individual thoughts weighing heavily in their mind as they watched their best friend get married.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you kept that letter!" Lane slurred as she clutched to her cocktail. Her and Zack were making the rounds to thank people before they forgot names, and Rory was glad they weren't attending her grandmother's (she wasn't kidding herself in thinking that it wasn't entirely an Emily Gilmore affair) rehearsal dinner the next day.<p>

"I had to let Zack know what he was dealing with, didn't I?"

"I've been living with her for two years; I think I've figured it out." Zack said with a cheesy grin, wearing the gown from the Buddhist ceremony again.

"Ah yes, but you weren't married. Now you'll have to deal with everything she hid from you while you were dating."

"Like brushing her teeth." Lorelai chimed in as she joined them at the table.

"And shaving her legs." Rory continued.

"Clipping her toenails."

"Listening to Bjork."

"Leaving the seat up."

"Guys please, let's leave a little mystery until after the honeymoon!" Lane said in between drunken laughter. "Speaking of Bjork, where'd Jess go?"

"He's back at the diner calling his Matt and Chris."

"I can't believe he's going to England!"

"Tell me about it." Rory said with a sigh, though really no one had done nothing _but _tell her about it. Her mother, Luke, and even Kirk had weighed in on the situation. They were all offering her some kind of advice on how to handle the situation, or in Kirk's situation the phone number of three of his bartenders.

Soon Lane had left to greet the other guests and Rory was left at a table that was supposed to sit her, Jess, April, Luke, Paris, Doyle and her mother, but she was sitting her alone. That was soon remedied as Lorelai Gilmore approached her with two of the most cherry-filled drinks she'd ever seen.

"I figure you'd need the sugar." She offered with a smile, which Rory returned hesitantly.

"It's been a crazy day, hasn't it?"

"A crazy week, more like. And it's still not over! I don't know how my little old wedding is going compete with the revelation of you and Jess secretly dating for four months. And now this whole London thing. You're both stealing my spotlight with those pretty, youthful faces of yours."

"Well I apologised already for not telling you about Jess, so shut up. As for everything else…" She trailed off and chewed on her straw thoughtfully."

"What's going on in that head of yours, sweets?"

"Jess and I can't catch a break, can we?"

"I'm guessing you mean as a couple, because this job is Jess catching the biggest of breaks. The Everest of breaks, if you will. Are you guys breaking up?"

"What? No! No way, not again. Never again."

"Never again, huh? It's that serious?"

"I hope so. Jess is… amazing."

"Okay, please stop scaring me. I'm going to start thinking you're an adult making your own decisions with the ability to get married."

"We're at Lane's wedding, mom."

They both smiled sadly, one mourning the loss of a small girl who held a funeral for a caterpillar, the other wondering when her best friend was old enough to get married in a ceremony that didn't involve ring pops. They were interrupted by a string of profanities coming towards them, as Paris dragged Doyle by his coat to their table.

"Turns out someone here found out that my parents were back in the country but didn't think to tell me until I read through his phone!"

"I didn't want to worry you! At least not until this week was over!" Doyle whimpered.

"My parents' court case is a million times more important than some stupid wedding! No offence, Lorelai."

"Paris, embezzlement always comes first." Lorelai remarked, knowing the girl was in too much of a rage to hear her.

"We're leaving. Thank you for everything. Rory, I'll see you on Monday?"

"Actually, I'm doing work for-"

"I don't actually care! Doyle, get the car!" And as quickly as they approached they were gone, leaving only a few terrified onlookers wondering how that tiny blonde girl could contain so much rage.

"And then there were two."

"Yeah, where is Luke?"

"He took April back to the house. We figured you'd be staying with her, but given the Jess situation…"

"Thanks mom."

"No problem. But long story short, Anna only let us have her for the week if we promised to get her in bed by eleven. As it's now ten-thirty, Luke-"

"What? How did it get so late?"

"An hour of Hep Alien combined with numerous cocktails helped it along."

"Jess has been gone for hours."

"Ooh maybe he's scattering rose petals in the diner and- yeah, that's as far as I'm letting my imagination go in regards to my daughter's sex life."

But Rory was no longer listening. She knew it would only take Jess twenty minutes at the most to organise things on the phone, and considering his well documented lack of chattiness it may have been less. For the first time that night she checked her phone to find a message from the man in question.

_Going home to sort things out. Be back Friday night or early Saturday. Tell Lane I said congrats, get Zack out of that dress. Love you. _

Despite the involuntary smile at the word love, Rory was suitably pissed. Not only had he left without saying goodbye, he didn't even write a message over half a paragraph!

"I'm guessing that's from Jordan Catalano then?"

"He's gone."

"What!" Lorelai went from mocking to serious in a second, as suddenly thousands of scenarios ran through her head. Of disembowelling the punk who would leave her daughter after they were just talking about him being The One…

"No gone as in we've broken up, he's gone home to work things out with Matt and Chris."

"Trouble in paradise with those three?"

"They just need to replace Jess and figure out what his role will be when he's away. But to go without saying goodbye… I'm so annoyed!"

"Go call him. I need to go get my beauty sleep so I can tolerate my mother in her element tomorrow."

"It's a good thing you're doing, letting her do this."

"Tell me that after we see the ice sculpture shaped like my head."

"Will do."

The two hugged and parted at the diner, giggling about the ceremony and Zack's emotional attachment to the silk garment he was still running around in. It cheered Rory up slightly, and she was in good spirits until she opened the door of the apartment and found it empty. Not only had Jess left, but the clothes that were usually scattered across the room were absent. Taking her mother's advice, she dialled the number she knew off by heart and waited.

"Yeah?" A gruff voice answered, signalling to Rory that she probably woke him up. Jess being asleep before midnight was not normal.

"Hey, were you asleep?"

"Rory? Oh… uh, yeah." She could imagine him giving her a small smile as if to say it was okay.

"Well I'm not apologising." She replied stubbornly.

"I see. Call for anything in particular, because I'm sleeping off a hangover mixed with a night of arguing, so-"

"Jess, we're in a relationship."

"Rory, the sky is blue. Now that we're done stating the obvious, I'm going to- oh god no. Matt said this would happen! You're going all Lorelai on me!"

Now it was Rory's turn to be confused. "Huh?"

"Matt said that taking a girl to a wedding is like signing your own death sentence."

"You mean promising to take a girl to a wedding and then bailing without saying goodbye, right? Because that's what you did. I don't know what stupid idea you've currently got in your head but I'm pissed, Jess! You were less than one hundred steps away and yet you couldn't be bothered to come and find me!"

"I sent you that message."

"Not good enough! Learn how to deal with human interaction, for crying out loud!"

"I can deal with it! I might not like it, but I deal!"

"Why didn't you just come and see me?"

"I didn't think about it, to be honest. In case you haven't noticed, I've been a little preoccupied with moving across the world in less than a month."

"I know, Jess! Of course I do! But… you're leaving! We only have so much time left and tonight was going to be about us, but you had to deal with business straight away. Of course you did, because I'm being stupid and clingy." She could hear him sigh softly, and she imagined him running his hands through his hair.

"You're not any of that. I'm sorry I didn't think. It's just scary, you know? Moving so far away. I've never even been out of the US."

"London is amazing. You're going to love it, I swear."

"So… can we not be fighting?"

"Absolutely. Matt and Chris still coming to the wedding?"

"Chris wouldn't miss it for anything. Matt is only coming for the open bar, and to get away from Sara."

"What? Why?"

"He took her to a wedding. She's been pressuring him about commitment for the last few weeks."

"So you thought I was calling to… I was not calling to Lorelai you!"

"How was I supposed to know?"

"Um, because we're on the phone? 'Oh hey Jess, the wedding was fun. By the way, want to get married?'"

"Well when you put it like that…"

"Silly boy. Do you know how long you're in Stars Hollow after the wedding? I'm doing inventory for mom at the in. I need money, she needs my organisational skills. It's perfect."

"Well actually, and don't tell anyone, but instead of a blender I'm running the diner for three weeks while Luke takes your mom to Italy." He held his phone away from his ear as he heard her predictable squeal.

"Luke's taking mom to Italy? Oh my god! And you're going to be in Stars Hollow until you leave? You just made my anger at you completely nonexistent!"

"Well Chris has graduated, and he needs the room. My little trip to the motherland could not have been planned better."

"Want to know what happened with Zack's robe?"

"Please tell me it involves Kirk."

"No, but… oh god I just looked out the window. Kirk, stop it!"

* * *

><p><strong>I feel like I should get on my knees and beg you all for forgiveness. But I've been working every day and I had no internet and I'm sorry. Please love me? I love you. I'll love you even more if you review. A lot of conversation in this chapter, I guess. I'm not too happy with it, but we've got some LukeLorelai coming up that should be good. **


	23. Baby Please Don't Go

**Hands up if you're a terrible updater and deserve hate forever? Sorry guys, but I've had a pretty whacky few months. I'm back at Uni, I lost control of my laptop and have just recently gotten a new one, and I've been working like crazy! But now I have Molly (my laptop. If anyone guesses the reference I'll hug you. Clue: my laptop is a certain colour) and things are getting back on track! Mostly!**

**Disclaimer: I haven't updated in four months because I was off buying the rights to **_**Gilmore Girls. **_**Apparently five dollars and a homemade sandwich aren't quite enough.**

Baby Please Don't Go

Rory woke to the sound of grumpy old men arguing away on her clock radio, which was probably Paris' crazy idea to get her out of bed by what she deemed a 'decent' hour. Mildly annoyed but not entirely surprised, Rory hit the snooze button and reached over to the other side of her bed.

There was no one there.

This made her frown, before her sleep-addled brain caught up with the rest of the world. The frown then turned into a full-on pout. The right side of her bed, which she'd somehow crammed into the tiny bedroom, had been empty for the better part of five months. Jess was in London and everything was falling to pieces.

They hadn't spoken for a fortnight, their only form of communication coming from short emails sent between classes or coffee runs. Even those had been absent for the last few days. Rory didn't want to bother him, with his schedule hectic at best, and the time zones made it ridiculously hard to catch each other at a good time. One call at four in the morning had caused Jess to yell at her, something foreign to their new adult relationship. Rory was worried the distance was bringing out the bad qualities that her boyfriend possessed, the ones that were so blatantly obvious to everyone but her when they were in high school.

It didn't help that it was her birthday. Not that twenty-two was an important age; she just hoped that Jess would call. Things might not be great between them but they were still in love and he'd never forgotten her birthday. Naturally this caused her to have her phone glued to her hand while getting dressed, eating breakfast and through her two morning classes. She got messages from her mother, father and even Luke who was slowly embracing technology. Yet still absent was that foreign phone number that could make her grin to a painful extent or scowl with menace, depending on how they were feeling with each other at the time. Today was bordering on the level of scowling. After all _he _was the one who said he'd call next. _He _was the one worrying about her late-night calls waking up his roommate.

The first month wasn't easy, but they definitely managed. They talked on the phone almost daily and everything didn't hurt the way she thought it would. It was almost like he hadn't left, he was just at Truncheon while she was at school, almost close enough to touch. He even sent her a postcard, though he merely wrote 'these are stupid but I know you'll like it'. It made her smile, and it was still on the refrigerator at the apartment. It wasn't really until school started again that things got hard. Their combined workloads were overwhelming them and there just wasn't as much time to spend on their relationship as there was during the summer. Near-daily calls turned to twice a week, and now didn't seem to be happening at all.

Rory numbly bought coffee from her favourite stand and sat under the shade of a welcoming tree. She had one more class before going home for the weekend, something she was genuinely looking forward to. Her mother had promised cake and bizarrely delicious snack food, which was to be expected with Lorelai's out of control pregnancy cravings. Smiling at the thought of Luke preparing his wife deep-fried grapes with chocolate sauce, Rory was reminded of her own pregnancy scare. This led her train of thought back to her least favourite subject at the moment, Jess and their bizarre relationship. She was definitely developing a pattern for the day. Deciding to get the hard part over before enjoying her birthday weekend, Rory asked herself the question she'd been avoiding even thinking about for weeks.

Did she still love him?

It hurt to think about, because she knew how amazing they'd been the months before he left for England, especially June as they babysat the diner and the inn. Things seemed perfect, and Rory wondered now if that was because they were heading for disaster. She couldn't even remember the last time she actually told him that she loved him, which was the most unsettling thing of all. Surely long distance relationships needed that sort of thing?

Then there was how distanced Jess had become. Not just literally (she smiled slightly at her small play on words), but emotionally as well. He barely spoke whenever they called each other, and his emails were nearly monosyllabic. It took her a moment to realise she was crying.

"Ace?" A concerned voice asked.

"Oh… hi Logan." She replied with a watery smile.

"Are you okay? Because I doubt you're crying to water the lawn, which would be a bad idea considering the amount of salt in tears."

"It's nothing. I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Too excited for your birthday?"

"You remembered my birthday?"

"I was a shitty boyfriend, but I wasn't an absolute jerk." Which were obviously the wrong words, as they caused her to cry even harder. Even her jerk of an ex-boyfriend remembered, and she was still waiting for a call from the man who supposedly loved her.

As though hearing her complaints, her phone suddenly lit up and _Jess M_ flashed on the screen. Excusing herself from Logan she decided to take the call in her car, which fortunately was nearby. All the butterflies she thought were dead had flared up again, and she was just so excited to hear his voice that she forgot everything in an instant.

"Jess, hi!" She didn't even try to hide the smile in her voice. Then she heard him sigh.

"Rory." He replied almost coldly. Rory's heart instantly sank. It wasn't like he was ever the most emotive talker, but something seemed really wrong.

"Jess? Are you okay?" Confusion covered her face as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Yeah… just trying to get this conversation over without becoming the world's biggest jerk."

"Oh, okay. What conversation, exactly?" She hoped her voice wasn't wavering. Something was wrong. He hadn't even wished her a happy birthday.

"Rory… this isn't working. You. Me. Us. I thought it could but it can't." There was a cold, calculating tone to his voice, as though he'd been rehearsing them. Rory suddenly felt two inches tall.

"Oh."

"Yeah. I guess there's a reason not many people try long distance. It sucks but I can't see this going any other way. It's best for both of us, don't you think? We're not doing each other any favours holding on to something that obviously isn't there anymore. We aren't what we were, and we won't ever be that again. I wish it could be different, I really do." A long silence fell between the two of them, until Jess sighed. She imagined him running his hand through his hair, though she could barely remember what he looked like. "Plus, and don't hate me for this. I didn't mean to, I swear, but… I've met someone." Another stretch of silence as silent tears streamed down her face. "God Rory, please say something."

"It's my birthday."

"Shit! Oh fuck, god Rory I didn't know. There was no way I would do that to you. Fucking… shit! Goddamn it! I've been trying to call for a month and I pick your freaking birthday! Shit!"

"Yeah. Bye." She hung up on him, hearing words that sounded like apologies without ever using the word 'sorry'. Because he wasn't, not really. He was just glad it was over. Now that he'd severed the link he could go on and live his life with whoever the woman he met was, and feel absolutely no guilt for his actions. It made her so angry even thinking about it. Angry at him, but mostly at herself. If she'd come to any other conclusion it wouldn't had hurt so bad. Anything other than her stunning realisation.

She still loved him with all of her heart and now they were nothing.

* * *

><p>Rory woke in a cold sweat mixed with tears. Everything in her dream had just seemed so real, so… painful that it made her want to curl up into a ball and sob herself dry. Unfortunately for her wishes she was not the only one in the queen sized bed above Luke's, and that person had been woken up by a small scream that had been elicited from the woman next to him.<p>

"Rory, did you have to do… fuck, are you okay?" Jess went from annoyed to concerned in a millisecond of seeing his girlfriend's face, covered in tears that were still pouring rapidly. He doubted it had anything to do with the pre-wedding Colin Farrell marathon she'd enjoyed with her mother that evening.

"Jess?" As though remembering that her dream was just that, completely untrue, she latched onto him and sobbed into his bare chest. Confused but concerned, Jess wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair as she cried her eyes out. He had no idea what had happened or what he could do to help. Rory barely cried, and never this uncontrollably. After a few minutes of hushed words of comfort, she stopped completely.

"Bad dream, I'm guessing?" He asked softly, kissing her forehead and playing with her hands in his.

"The worst."

"Attacked by gremlins?" He teased lightly, causing her to smile weakly.

"I'm so scared."

"Of what?"

"You. Of the power you have to hurt me. The fact that you're leaving. That you won't only forget my birthday, but you'll call to tell me you've found some other girl you're in love with. Take your pick."

"Have I ever forgotten your birthday, beautiful?" His words were velvety and in any other situation Rory would've instantly mocked him for his use of a terrible pet name. But it was obvious that he was trying to be sweet and she decided instead to let her heart melt.

"No, but that's why it was so weird in the dream. Even Logan remembered."

"Logan was there?" A flicker of jealousy.

"He saw me crying."

"You were crying?" The jealousy was instantly replaced by concern, as he moved one of his hands from her palm to playing with the ends of her hair. She sighed contentedly before giggling.

"Yep, and that was _before _you dumped me on my birthday."

"Never gonna happen. Any of it."

"Except the going to London part." She said with a small pout.

"Well, there's that." He conceded.

"What if I told you not to go?"

"Are you asking me not to go?"

"Would you stay?"

"Are you asking me?"

"What if I said that if you go, we're over?"

"You wouldn't do that. I know you." He was right, of course. This opportunity was amazing and she loved him too much to let it pass. A silly dream wasn't going to change anything.

"You're right, but what if I did?"

"Then I'd have to get my room back at Truncheon. This opportunity is amazing, but it's not worth it if I lose you. Can I be really cheesy and slightly frightening for a second?" She nodded. "You're my life, Rory. I couldn't imagine my life without you in it, because when I think about my future there's nothing but you. I know we're young and this adult relationship thing is still new territory, but when I said I'm not ever leaving you, I mean it. I won't dump you on your birthday, because I won't dump you _ever_." He smiled shyly at her, slightly embarrassed at this confession.

"You know, most men are on one knee with a ring before they even dare to say anything as mushy as that."

"That bad?"

"I was thinking along the lines of perfect, but I guess it could be construed as bad for any street cred you may want to hold onto."

"You're right. I'll have to do something especially immoral now if I want to redeem myself as this this town's beloved hoodlum." She rolled her eyes at his attempts to salvage his reputation before he ran one of his hands up and down her exposed thigh, his fingers slipping under her tiny shorts that she insisted on wearing despite being almost no different from underwear. "I figure defiling the perfect princess is a decent start." He smirked before moving his other hand to the back of her head and kissing her deeply.

"Really? I must look like a mess. All blotchy and red... do you really want me like this?"

"Beautiful," was his simple reply before kissing her once more and pulling her onto his chest. Rory just grinned impishly and ran her fingers lightly down his chest. Maybe it would be hard, but she knew in her heart that this man loved her deeply and that was all that mattered. London wasn't going to change anything.

Except maybe the sex part.

* * *

><p><strong>IT WAS ALL A DREAM! Sorry, but the wedding bit wasn't really coming to me so I thought I'd share this weird thing with you all. I hope you're not disappointed. If you are, then I'm sorry. But the next bit will be up soon, and it'll be zany! Reviews will tell me of your crushing disappointment. <strong>


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